It has been very hard for me to concentrate on blogging
or do anything, really with the aftermath of Ida becoming
just a little more evident with each passing hour.
My hometowns, Golden Meadow, Galliano, Cut Off, Larose,
and all the other surrounding towns are devastated with very
few homes not damaged from this Category 4 storm.
My whole life I have heard,
"One big storm and our bayou will be gone"
We all sat on edge as we realized this was the perfect storm,
the one that could cause this catastrophe some of my
family came to Plaquemine, others were spread over a
few states. My besties had to evacuate as well.
We bunkered down... and She came through...
She tried, with all her might to end the life we knew...
but she could not do it.
There is too much pride, to much love for our towns,
before and after, people began to come together to help
their fellow neighbors, friends and strangers.
My besties, both with devastation to their personal homes
have survived and will rebuild and continue to live on our bayous.
This blog speaks of the type of people who have surrounded
the first 40 years of my life.
Now I want to speak of the four people I call my children.
My son, his wife, my daughter, her wife...
Amazingly proud I am of these 4 humans.
Jesi and Del evacuated here as they were getting ready to
move to NOLA for a career change.
Roddie was home from offshore and Katie was on call.
Before the storm Jesi and Del cooked and began picking up my yard.
Roddie although he knew they were here to do that,
still came to assure my things were picked up properly.
After.... all 4 of these children not only were here
if we needed anything, but Katie a hospice nurse,
went right back to work to help her patients through
this difficult time. Roddie headed to our bayou with two
of the grandgirls to see what could be done.
Jesi and Del heard of all the help that was needed and
made their way to the bayou to help one of the besties
get their house in order so they can come home.
It is a true testament of "you did something right"
when you see your own children coming up to the plate
to aid their childhood stomping grounds.
Jesi and Del remain down there and will stay until
either they are not needed or their restaurant opens up.
Roddie will be going down there every day to help where he can.
Katie has been working daily to make sure her own hometowns
have the assistance they need as well as her parents.
IDA cannot, will not wash away pride.
Pride for what we work so hard for,
Pride for our communities,
Pride for those we love.
For me, in my little but vast world,
My Pride has brought me to tears more than once through this.
To see my children, their spouses do all they can for those
less fortunate than themselves, well I am beaming with pride.
I had to call their Daddy yesterday to brag with him
as he would be the one who understands what it means to us
that we have made mistakes along the way of raising these two children
and they will make mistakes as well, but in the end, when most of
our parenting duties are done, we cans sit back and say,
"WE DID SOMETHING RIGHT"
I did not write the end of this story, the sentence I am about to share,
yet I have used it over and over since it was read to me:
IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT BEING AN AMERICAN LOOKS LIKE,
WATCH THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH LOUISIANA IN THE NEXT
COMING MONTHS.
A to the MEN!
No comments:
Post a Comment