Building Strength

I have felt so many emotions in the past four days. It is so hard to explain all that has gone on and the emotions that have come with it. I am praying to God that after tomorrow all my life will go back to “normal” but unfortunately no one really knows. Late Thursday night and early Friday morning my housemates and I packed up our important documents, notes/cards/pictures and other mementos and a suitcase full of clothes. We gathered food, filled up an extra gas can, cleaned out our refrigerator, took everything off our porch, and closed all of our blinds. We all had to work on Friday so we packed up the cars and headed to school. Courtney dropped me off because I chose to leave my car – it is parked in the drive beside our houses because that seemed like the highest ground. The whole day my mind was on one thing Hurricane Gustav and wondering how bad could it be. My students asked me a lot about it, and about Katrina. They have so many confused thoughts – most of them do not understand. Many of them think it is a woman and that she may come back. It is hard to explain that she is gone and will not come back, but we never know what will happen when another Hurricane hits. My kids are so young that many of their first memories are from the tragedies that followed the hurricane. While most of my students watched a movie at the end of the day a few helped me to secure my classroom as best as I could - moving all furniture away from the windows, turning bookshelves towards the walls, and covering all the computers and other technology with plastic. Will it be enough? Will our portable building be able to withstand hurricane force winds? Will it stay in place with 10 + inches of rain that may come? You try to think positively and be optimistic, but it is only natural to question what life will be like if all of this is totally swept away. After school I had a few minutes to gather important things from my classroom and say my “be safe’s” to the other staff at my school. A wonderful woman named Ms. Wiltz, who also teaches third grade, has become very motherly to me over the past year. She has been a mentor for me as a teacher and a supporter for me as I have transitioned into a new culture. Through it all I have never once felt judged by her, as I often do from other staff members at my school. She gave me her final advice for evacuation and her very optimistic thoughts and a great mom hug. I broke down and wept in her loving arms – I cried for the community and all the people who have gone through this before and I cried for my students who are so scared and confused and I cried because if by the slight chance it hits us hard, New Orleans may not be able rebuild this time around.

And ironically on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we began our evacuation. Courtney and I had an uneventful drive to Pensacola, happy to beat the traffic and be east of the predicted path. We stayed at our friend Dan’s place. He was a wonderful guest and helped us to keep our minds off of the storm with some great food, good conversation and some live music. Saturday morning we got up and traveled farther east to Fort Walton Beach and that is where we are now. We are staying with Courtney’s aunt, uncle and two little cousins. Today we went to Destin, had lunch, walked on the beach and did a little shopping. There was one rain storm caused by an outer band of Gustav, but it didn’t last long. While we were out we ran into two friends who had also evacuated. We have watched the news a lot. Trying to take in important updates, but not make ourselves too nervous. Gustav is quickly approaching thought to make landfall Monday morning. It is currently a category 3 hurricane with winds up to 115 miles and hour. And again…we just wait….and keep praying.