Harvey +7, Friday Evening September 1, 2017

I sometimes wonder who is reading the notes I send out into the ether, maybe like a modern message in bottle.   I float one off my little island in the hopes of return or rescue.  In the end I think these notes are more for me than you as I think this is just the way I am processing this crazy experience.

Today was up, down, left, right, and straight up exhausting physically and emotionally.  Not even sure where to begin so I guess I'll start at the logical place, the beginning.

We walked out of the neighborhood as we watched an older gent heading further into the subdivision to gather his things (pic below).  We walked out by both staging areas and to our waiting friend.  We relaxed in the calming atmosphere of his amazing technology called 'Air Conditioning'.   As we walked in we felt the sense of calm, quiet, and exhaustion that comes over you when you are in a safe place after significant stress. It was terrific.  Charlie is the consummate host and has cool Coke Zero and some food available.   We took the opportunity to do a bit of work and upload pictures of our home to insurance.

Regarding FEMA,  many of you reached out and all of you said, in your own way, FEMA is there for That Guy and for all of us.  I couldn't agree more and I logged my FEMA application as Lisa was dealing with insurance.

The afternoon brought some distributing news about a voluntary evacuation for our area. Yes, now, after all this they are still concerned about more flooding.  You read that right.  They are saying their might be some more flooding due to additional water releases Saturday and Sunday. To be honest, a bit of gut punch for both of us.  We are back at the house tonight and then going to stay with a friend.  While we won't be staying here we will continue to work on and try our best to get a move on rebuilding.

Earlier when I was letting Harvey get the better of me I thought about a few things.  For some weird reason, I thought about the yard stick I am using to measure the water with and then I thought - Holy Shit, is that thing becoming to me what the volley ball was to Tom Hanks in Cast Away.  I'll let you know later how that part of my mind works out.

And the final thought for the day was how insane it was that I walk through water where there are boats going by and people with canoes full of their clothes.  And then, in half a mile I am on a road where everything is normal.  Well, mostly normal - stores are closed, there are not a lot of cars around, there are parking lots of trucks with boats on trailers ready to be used in a rescue, and big trucks that say Oklahoma or Illinois Rescue Crew.  Other than that, all perfectly normally.  And by perfectly normal I mean you can't see the flooded houses.

Again, I close with the feeling that we are truly lucky to know that all of you will receive this message in a bottle and send your positive vibes, prayers, voodoo, or Ju-Ju our way.  Lisa and I couldn't be more thankful.

Nat


Sent from my iPhone

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