…that myself and other employees at Mississippi College recieved an email stating that “the hurricane” had picked-up steam and was now thought to be a bigger threat to the state of Mississippi than we once thought. The school was going to end the work day early just to be sure.
Three hours later our power went out. It wouldn’t return for 5 days. I spent the days after Katrina huddled in my office at MC helping displaced students find a college home (I’m so sweet. Such a catch.).
Gas was gold.
Generators were life savers.
Hot water for a shower was fantasy.
Roomie Michael Schut and I stashed 20 gallons of gas in the outside shed. We went and checked every couple of hours to make sure it hadn’t been stolen by a greedy nieghbor. We found a way to make our own power by rigging cords to our car batteries… but we could only run two things at one time, picking between the fan, the TV, and our laptops… for movies… there was no Internet… believe me, we tried.
It wasn’t until January of this year that my cousin Karen and I were finally able to make a trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to see the destruction first hand. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: that was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made to get out of bed that day and head to the coast.
Mississippi has rebuilt in part… and will continue to do so for years to come.
While I was 2 1/2 hours from the Mississippi Coast, I still have my own story. We all do. We all remember those moments where we said, “I’ll never take gas for granted again!” or “I’ll never take groceries for granted again!”
But we all have. That’s just human nature.
I have yet to purchase the gun that I swore Katrina would lead me to, but I’ve still got my “muscles” to keep me protected from people who want my gas.
Back away from my gas, sucka.
you forgot about the fun part of the hurricane…. you know when we took the tops off of the garbage cans and tried to “surf” in the drainage ditch behind the house.
1:32 pm on Aug 29 2006TRIED to surf? Schut, we tore up the waves.
We were idiots… idiots having the time of our lives (kinda).
6:40 pm on Aug 29 2006I think you’re mighty brave to admit that you had gas stored up. I’m sure your dear cousin Brock would have appreciated you sharing the wealth when he had to wait in line for 8 hours to get gas. Okay, maybe he just waited 2 hours, but that means you could have spent 2 more hours with your cousin. Instead, you went white trash surfing. You probably stocked up on wife-beaters too didn’t you. I hope you can sleep at night.
7:41 pm on Aug 29 2006We slept… but it was HOT.
Is it wierd to say that I actually have (some) fond memories of no power, no food, and *gasp* no Internet for 5 days.
{Actually, my office at MC had the Internet and Schut and I both tried to hook it up while the Hurricane was hitting.}
9:16 pm on Aug 29 2006