Friday, September 01, 2006

A Year Ago Today

This was written a year ago. I had been staying with my sister in Clinton. We had 14 people, two dogs, and one cat all jammed into a single family home. And we were the lucky ones.



9/1/2005



I am home. We have electricity. That is good.


No cable TV or Internet connection. That is not good.


I am so tired. I feel like my mind and my body are shutting down. I want to cry. I don’t want to hear again how blessed I am or how I have nothing to be sad about. I know this. I do.


It is just that I AM scared. I can’t get gas. I feel so vulnerable. Not knowing whether I can get to the bedside of a sick relative or to medical care in Jackson if I need to. It is not that I want to go “gallivanting.” It is knowing I can’t that makes me feel strange.


The half-empty grocery aisles are another thing that just seem wrong somehow. I hear about how this is common in other countries, but not HERE. Not in a small city in Mississippi.


I am so spoiled. A creature of routine and habit, I don’t like having my daily doings upset in such a fashion.


But, I know I will survive. And, I will be stronger.


I just want a full tank of gas.


1 comment:

fiona said...

I remember you posting about the affects of Katrina. Though I watched news reports about the awful devastation on my TV, (powered by elusive electricity for some of you!) I couldn't really fathom the enormity of that event.

However, through you I understood.

I understood how utterly devastating it was to every day folk just like us. It's the loss of the simple mundane stuff that really makes the point!

We take so much for granted and yet in the wink of an eye, our lives can change irrevocably...

So glad you were okay...

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