Lady-In-Waiting

Alas, I must apologize to my parents and to Francesca both of whom I assured that hurricanes do not affect us here in our part of Texas. I feel that for us this situation has actually gone from bad to worse. It looks like Rita has shifted and will likely make landfall right through Beaumont/Port Arthur/Orange. This is of course, exactly where we live. Dianne, my mother-in-law lives right on the bordering town lines between Bridge City and Orange, and the rest of us live in Vidor which is right in between Beaumont and Orange.

We evacuted on Wednesday night, leaving at about 11pm and it was a long long night. Driving to Austin usually means that we drive through Houston and the trip usually takes about four and a half hours. On this trip we took some alternate highways, which didn't at all make for a faster trip because all the highways were packed. We finally made it to Dianne's house at 9am. I don't think that any of us have ever seen anything quite like what we experienced, in our lives. We stopped for gas twice and each time the gas-stations were packed with hundreds of cars, people getting gas, stopping for breaks and naturally, using the bathroom. And these were just the gas stations that we stopped at, the many others that we just passed along the way were just as full. Before we left Vidor we had to top us Chris' tank and that was a challenge as one station was completely out of gas and most others were out of everything except for Super. Perhaps what is a little unnerving is that even up here in Lago Vista (where we are, just north of Austin) there are stations that at times are running out of certain types of gas. Desipte our long and tiring trip I must say that we actually had it good. Our ten hours has nothing on those people, like Chris' cousins from the suburbs of Houston, who travelled for over fifteen hours, or worse those people who were there for twenty four hours or more.

The last two days have been extremely draining. Even though I managed to bring some books, some art supplies, my photography equipment and my writing I have not been able to bring myself to work on anything. I went to sleep yesterday morning at about 9:30am, shortly after we arrived, but I only managed to sleep until noon. We are all so nervous right now and all that we can seem to do is watch the news. Until today our region wasn't even being mentioned which made it very difficult for us because we have had little idea of what state our towns were in. Last night at about 3am I finally got some sleep and miraculously managed to sleep for a full seven hours. Today has been a sleepy day actually. I think that I have reached a point where emotionally and physically I am exhausted. We have all been trying very hard to be optimistic about how this will turn out but deep inside I just want to break down and have a good cry. Part of me just wants to this hurricane to finally hit so that we can stop waiting and the other part of me wants to wake up from a horrible dream about a massive hurricane that is about the hit my home.

In an attempt to lighten our mood, Jason, Chris' cousin, has started a $5 pool for "Where will the eye of Rita Hit". I have placed my bet on Cameron, Louisiana, Dianne had picked Lake Charles and Chris is sticking with Port Arthur. In the end it won't really matter who wins, because even if you win you lose since all these areas are so close to each other. But for the moment it has helped us to laugh a little. I am glad that Jason has managed to keep his humour because I don't know that I have it in me at this point to be witty and clever, even though I am sure that I would like to be. It might somehow make me seem like a better writer to be able to be clever at a time like this, instead of writing exactly what I feel, which at this point is just very scared.

Tomorrow we will have a better idea where we stand. Though who knows when we will actually be able to get home after this storm is finished with us. And after seeing the traffic leaving the Gulf Coast I am sure that we can all imagine what it will be like coming back. I guess we have nothing left to do but sit and wait, which has already been the hardest part of this whole ordeal. But when you think about it who in their right mind wants to be told to sit patiently and wait while a horrible hurrican ravages their home. Of course I realize that I can't do anything about it but that's just what makes it harder to bear that you are helpless to do much except leave and hope for the best.

The only thing that makes all this bearable is knowing that our families are safe and that Chris is with me. I am sure that it sounds very cliche but it makes us realize how what really matters are the people in your life not the things. And I know that with Chris, even if the things are gone, what we have with each other will be strong enough to get us through the worst without taking it out on each other. But I won't lie, I really hope that we don't have to face that grim reality of coming back to a destroyed home.

So it is back to waiting, which is not easy, but it is all we have left to do.