My Thoughts

Latest chaos

So. Here I am sitting at a laptop in the ARC headquarters in Baton Rouge. I've been in Louisiana for almost a month now and I still have 2 more weeks. I have wanted to write my thoughts and feelings so many times in the past few weeks but I've either been so busy or so tired or trying desperately to take my mind off of anything that I would like to be recording right now...
The days before the hurricane they were saying on the news how devastating they expected it to be...in the middle of looking for some kind of B.S. job in a city that isn't really home to me anymore after only 3 weeks of being back from Africa- I kept my eye on the news and listened for the phone.
Two days before the hurricane hit land they called me to see if I could come down. My heart started to race before I could even get the word YES out of my mouth. Two more days of waiting and watching the news.
The hurricane struck shore Monday morning. Devastating Southeast Louisiana and nearly all of Mississippi. I started to pack. Monday afternoon the call finally came.
Time to go-
Tuesday morning I went to my local chapter to get briefed and ready. Got lost on the way to the office and started to freak out a little. Yelling and swearing in my car- WHAT KIND OF G.D. DIRECTIONS DID THEY GIVE ME??? HOW DO THEY EXPECT ME TO FIND ANYTHING IN THIS PODUNK TOWN???--
realizing it's the nerves getting to me.
Less than 24 hours after I got the call, I'm on the plane to Houston. I come alone but meet up with a few hundred others that just arrived. The next morning we're all on our way to Baton Rouge to the headquarters for the Louisiana disaster response. Checked in at headquarters and was immediately assigned to work in a shelter in the Cajun Dome in Lafayette.