I must say, I never thought I would experience anything like this. Let me interject, before I go any further...what I have experienced in no way compares to the experiences of thousands of people on the Gulf Coast. I know I am blessed and through all of this week, have constantly reminded myself of God's blessings in my life. I can't imagine what the people down there are going through - all I can share is my experience.
At first it seemed we (my roommate and I) would weather the storm with no ill effects besides a few branches down in the yard. We had power and cable through it all, and opened our house to the rest of my family who lost power at their homes. It was an interesting day on Tuesday - we had nine extra people at our house. In order to maintain sanity, we ended up spreading throughout the house, and all was working well.
My brother found out he was going to have to work on Wednesday, but he had less than a quarter tank of gas in his truck. We decided that I would go and wait in line for gas since we didn't know how long it would take. He didn't need to be up all night waiting in line for gas. It was chaos. One thing that has really struck me through this whole ordeal is how self-centered we are. You tell anyone here in America that they will have to do without any of their creature comforts for an undetermined amount of time, and you get to see what people are really made of. I nearly got run over by people who were forcing their cars into the line at the gas station.
While I was sitting there for an hour and a half, I was amazed at all the people who seemed to be out joy-riding. Granted, some people were probably just trying to stay cool because they were without power, but I can't tell you how many SUV's I saw with 4-8 people in them - mostly teenagers. It was ridiculous. I finally got gas, but not before finding out some bad news. My brother called me from the house to let me know the power had just gone out. 8:30 pm on Tuesday night. The next day after the hurricane came through. I was so mad! At least for a split second....I couldn't stay that way knowing all the suffering that was happening around me and further south of me. Everyone, except my youngest brother and parents, stayed at our house that night. It was still cool since we'd been running the AC all day. But the next day....man it got hot!
Fortunately, my former roommate offered her apartment for our use. The power had come back up at her place (she stayed with us during the storm, too) and she and her sister (my current roommate) left for Illinois. So we packed up my sister-in-law, the kids, and all the coolers of food they had brought with them, along with my Mom and Dad over to stay at the apartment. I opted out, because it was a one-bedroom house and there would be 8 people there already. I decided to take my chances with the heat and stay at my house. Well, I gave up around 7pm Wednesday night. A friend had offered her home to me (their power came back up that morning) but I wasn't sure I could make it to her house.
You see, that morning, I had driven around town trying to find a gas station and get some gas. We had gotten word a gas station down the street was open, so we all left (my roommate, sister-in-law and myself) to go and get some gas. I went past one place to see what else was available, but didn't find one. I drove around for about 20 minutes, looking unsuccessfully for a gas station, and decided to turn back towards home since my car was running hot (another long and aggravating story), low on gas and I needed to get my nieces back to the house before we were stranded. I tried again later in the day, after everyone left the house, and ran out of gas on the worst part of the interstate just two miles from my house. I broke down crying and called 911. All I could say to her was, "I've run out of gas on the interstate....." while bawling my eyes out. I was scared I would get run over or shot for blocking the interstate. The dispatcher was very calm with me and asked me where I was...you know, the usual details. Just as I got off the phone, this old man in a pick-up truck pulled up behind me, jumped out and told me he would push my car up a bit further so I could pull off the road. After he did that, (I was still bawling, by the way), he came up and put some gas in my car. I could have kissed his toothless self - even with his wife watching from the truck!!! I asked him for his name and address so I could send him some money, but he would have none of that. I just pray that God blesses him tremendously. So I cranked the car, called 911 back (got the same dispatcher amazingly enough) and went home, where I planned to stay until I KNEW gas was available.
Needless to say, I was VERY low on gas. But I decided to try going to my friend's house anyway. I was hot, tired and hungry...plus I still had food in my freezer that was ruining. So off I went to my friend's house. I made it there fine and settled in for the night. Or so I thought....
I'll write the rest of the story tomorrow!
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