Reality Bites

Wow...i just dont even know where to begin..i've tried to write this entry about 4 times..i keep starting and not being able to finish..i guess writing about it means im really having to deal with it..im not even close to finished with it...but, figured i should put up what i have while its still fresh..so, here goes...on august 29th, 2005 my life was forever changed...i have now experienced so many emotions to extremes i never imagined id feel them....i am a hurricane katrina survivor...i feel so lucky that i was willing/able to leave the magical city of new orleans on that sunny sunday morning.....people seemed to be carrying on with their normal daily lives....little did we know, we were leaving a city we wont soon see again...when we left the city, there was an unspoken mentality that we'd all be back very soon, that, as in years past, these evacuations mean nothing, that, "we're only gonna be gone for two days". And so, i accepted this mentality as my own, seeing as how this was my first evacuation, my nievte as far as preparedness was concerned has come back to bite me....i did very little to prepare jasons place....i packed my bag(and yes i only brought one)as though i were taking a weekend trip....as we embarked on what would become our almost 14 hour journey....reality set in....we made it only about 10 miles or so before we encountered stopped traffic.....maybe i should, at this time introduce my fellow evacuees...my friend marcia(we had only just met a few weeks before, and had just started hangin on a regular basis).marcias dog vinny(a 7 month old golden retriever), vinny, it turns out, would prove to be quite the confidant throughout this whole ordeal(i grew up around dogs, but, its been awhile since ive been around one..there were at one point, 7 dogs at the lakehouse, all of which were inside dogs)during those 5 days, i fell in love with vinny, and can completely understand why so many people refused to leave their dogs...we also went with marcia's coworker rebecca(whom i had just met on saturday)the three of us went out saturday night for a hurricane party, we ate dinner at one of my fave spots, parasols(bomb roast beef poboys), then headed to the gclove with all the usual suspects, and finally igors....little did we know, what seemed like a normal saturday in the city, would be the last we'd all spend together for quite some time....anyway, back to the trip... so, as we were stopped in traffic, and listening to the radio updates about the storm....we decided baton rouge(only about 60 miles or so west of new orleans)wasnt far enough away from the storm....rebecca said she had a friend in arkansas who said we could stay with her...so, we drove, and drove, and drove...my stay in arkansas was quite pleasant considering the circumstances...im staying with people i dont even know(although Kate and her husband Brian, and Kate's family were all sooo awesome....i wont ever forget their hospitality and generosity), and watching all these people clinging to their lives(i was pretty much glued to cnn for like, the whole time we were there, it kept me sane, with the exception of the time spent out on beautiful lake hamilton)Kate was awesome...she really did her best to keep us entertained and try to keep our minds off of the storm and its aftermath..(we at arkansas bbq, went to the local mall, even toured one of the old bathhouses in downtown hot springs) on thursday morning, marcia left, headed to her hometown in new jersey...kate, kate's friend jamie and i headed to little rock(thats where my flight was out of, and where rebecca had driven for work)