Hurricanes

If you know me at all you know that I "survived" Hurricane Katrina.  (and remember I was 17 months pregnant during the whole thing.)  I marked the 3 year anniversary of that event this weekend by keeping an eye on the weather channel, tracking Huricane Gustav and thinking about what I experienced 3 years ago.  I read back over my journal and remembered some of the things that we experienced.  I remembered writing lists and stories for a few reasons.  One, because there was nothing else to do but to write.  We had no power as the storm approached.   It was raining terribly and we couldn't go outside during the storm.  And after the storm there was no fuel for the vehicles and most roads were so covered with trees and debris that it was impossible to travel.  So, we stayed home for days and days in the dark and the hot humid heat of the house.  So, I wrote.  I wrote also to try to capture the feelings that I had in my heart as I experienced first hand the things that we had been told would happen by our leaders and prophets of God.  I now knew why I had stored water, food, and other supplies and I wanted to remember that feeling of being prepared and obeying the wise counsel of our leaders.  I also wanted to record the ideas I had of being better prepared for future storms and hardships.  I knew I wouldn't remember everything I wanted to do if I didn't write it down as I was experiencing it.   Our home was still in tact after Hurricane Katrina and we had been spared so much that others had not been so lucky so be blessed with.  Rick and I both agreed that what we experienced through Hurricane Katrina and all of the people we met and stories we heard changed our lives.  It changed who we were and what we valued.  It changed us.  But what about 3 years later?    Our lives were back to normal within a few weeks to a few months even though there are still people on the Mississippi Gulf Coast who are still without homes, power, and comforts that they once enjoyed.  

My heart goes out to those people I saw on the Weather Channel this morning who were evacuating New Orleans.  Will their lives ever be the same?  What will they go home to next week when the storm is over.  Will they lose loved ones and all of their possessions as the storm rolls through?

Sorry for the Mormon insights here, but the only thing I can relate it to is being a missionary.  Being a missionary is life changing.  Giving up 2 years of your life to serve God 24 hours a day.  It changes a person.  It makes them better.  They come home a different person.  They still want to serve 24 hours a day.  They want to change everyone else--make them better, too.  But gradually reality sets in, work happens, school happens, and missionaries turn in to every day people, too.  They forget the stories, the lessons learned, and how they wanted to change the world.  Until they are reminded of what they experienced and what they felt and what they did about it.  

So, this little 3 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina I will watch the news.  I will think of my Mississippi friends and even my New Orleans friends.  I will pray for them.  And I will remember.  I will remember what I learned from Hurrican Katrina and the people who died and the people who still suffer.  I will pray for them.  And I will remember the people effected by Hurricane Gustav and I will pray for them.  I will remember and I will do better.