Gustav: The Waiting

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On this, the three year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we have:

  • procured a generator.
  • stocked up on food stuffs (including booze).
  • filtered lots of water.
  • gathered flashlights and batteries, hurricane lanterns, candles, fans, a radio, our satellite radio, and the contraflow map.
  • filled one car with gas and parked the other in a high and safe garage.
  • assembled phone numbers of friends, families and neighbors.
  • secured several options for places to go in the event we need to leave.
  • packed all photo albums and stored them in a safe, dry place for the duration of the storm.
  • prepared checklists of what to pack if we leave.
  • called Vet to get pets’ rabies documentation in the event they get boarded.
  • prepped my office and CS’s shop.

And now, we wait. We wait to see whether we will stay or go.  This decision is likely to be made Sunday.  Tomorrow, we will wait some more.  What I resist my damnedest to do is watch the Weather Channel or the local news for the next 30 or so hours.  They will know nothing concrete until Sunday.  So why risk my cuticles, my nerves, my very sanity for the media to churn this story?  I can’t and won’t do it.

So, what does one do when the majority of the city is leaving in droves and the nervous energy is all but electric?  I read, play with Sun, nap, twitter, watch TV, span time with CS, call family and friends.  My mind stays on the weather.  Doubt creeps in—I start to get unnerved when the city really thins out.  One of my four neighbors has left already.  But I let reason and season guide me.  I am stubborn but ultimately am more reasonable than stubborn.  And my family members, all born-and-raised New Orleanians, know when to leave and how to stay and be safe.  I trust their seasoned experience far more than all the weathermen combined.

This waiting sure gives new meaning to “long holiday weekend.”

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