Crumpled Notebook

I just read a surreal article about Hurricane Rita that was done with some residents of Holly Beach, LA, which is where my mom has called home for the past 8 years. According to the article, everyone has gotten out. There are about 300 residents. Anyway, it was done with the man who built a Christian Camp/Resort type thing down there. I never went to it as it wasn’t a regular church, but it was nice and it seemed to be a good place for youth groups to go on retreats and stuff. It’s just crazy though cause these people are leaving there, never expecting to see their town again. Like I said before, it’s not even a mile wide, a few blocks at most. Most of the homes and camps down there are older (camps is what they call their houses, rentals and beach houses). Even the ones on elevated and that are newer couldn’t withstand a hit this hard. I know my mom’s place couldn’t and most places are about like that. In fact, if anything could withstand it, it would be the church camp, but that is still unlikely. I tried to find you a link on Wikipedia to Holly Beach, but the best I could do was Cameron, LA, since Holly Beach isn’t really an incorporated town. It’s just a touristy place, much like Pebble Beach isn’t a real city (except they don’t have million dollar homes there or golf courses–but they do have 4 bars, 1 church, 2 mini-stores and NO Gas stations). Here are some random person’s pictures though. I don’t know any of these people, but I definately recognize the places.

I’m just sitting here, having this surreal moment. First, I’m so thankful that Mom moved when she did (March of this year). I know that if Joe was still alive, while they may have evacuated with everyone else, they would have been some of the last ones to leave. Everything they had would have been destroyed. In fact, Mom still has things down there because she wasn’t able to bring much with her when she moved. So I just thank God that she is safe and well in Kentucky. I know had she still lived there, without Joe being alive, she would have been one of those people who would have had to depend on someone else to literally save their life due to her health right now. They would have had to make her go kicking and screaming. I’m also feeling a bit scared for my family down there (even if they aren’t technically my family anymore) and the other people I know. Even though I know that they are most likely in a safe place, the thought of them losing their homes and knowing they are going to have to rebuild not only homes, but their lives, just saddens me. I want to go and be there with these people. I want to help them. I want to see what becomes of Holly Beach and Cameron Parish and Lake Charles. I want to see my parent’s home.

I guess with Hurricane Katrina it was different for me. I saw the pictures and video on the tv and was in shock, but it still didn’t seem real. I felt for these people, I wanted to help them, but it wasn’t personal. This time its real. This time its personal. This time it affects many people I know and places I have not only been, but lived and made a life in. A place that my mom called home for the past 8 years. A place I knew I always had a home at and even considered it home for a short time.

I guess you can say that this time it has truely hit home.