Hitting the Road

Thanks Gustav for the spontaneously planned vacation!!

We're hitting the road tomorrow morning at 6 am. I really, really hope that this contra flow situation on the interstate makes our life easier not harder. I'm so not looking forward to a 6 hour (potentially 12 hour) drive with a 4 week old. I would dread a day or two or three or seventeen without power with a 4 week old! So... we're going.

Plan A: head to condo in Panama City

Plan B: Spend the night in Laurel with Sally

Plan 3: head north to Memphis to last remaining hotel room

Last Resort Plan: Drive up to Dallas and spend 2 weeks with sister

Thanks to all who offered a place for us (Ging, Lizbeth, Sally, etc)

Last time I left for a hurricane I packed some flip flops and t-shirts and all of my pictures... knowing full well there was no point but, just in case, I took the few irreplaceable things that would fit in my car. 12 hours later I was in a condo in Panama City watching my world basically fall apart. We had about 4 feet of water in our 2nd story apartment and just shreds of a roof. We pretty much lost every material item we had (minus the flip flops and t-shirts and pictures). We spent days without water & phone service; weeks without electricity, ice, & confirmation that we both still had jobs; months without a place of our own; and over a year trying to recover financially, mentally, & emotionally. Katrina changed so much of my life but I really think it made me and most people affected better people. We learned how to share, how to help each other, how to make the most of a terrible situation, and, most importantly, we learned that life isn't about what you have or where you live but it is about the people in your life. We would not have survived (ok, maybe we would have lived but not as well) without my family, Jay's family, Lockheed Martin employees, friends, neighbors, and volunteers... oh and people who let us grind their stumps! Jay and I were stump grinders for several weeks after Katrina! (it is really surprising what you will do during uncertain times)

So, anyway... we're getting out of dodge. I hope everyone has a safe evacuation. I hope the outcome of this hurricane is much less devastating than the last. Happy Labor Day!