Sunday, February 26, 2006
Relationships
You would laugh if you knew me better. Our church is beginning a follow up campaign to the Purpose Driven Life. The current program is about finding one's purpose as part of a group. In other words, forming relationships where one acts upon one's faith. That means doing for others without expecting anything in return.
Here is something that is no big news - I'm not good at relationships. Growing up as an only child, I was very self centered. I liked it that way. Later in life, I learned that sometimes part of having a relationship was for whatever reason, losing it. It was painful. I don't particularly like pain and so I would avoid forming many deep relationships. It seemed that people came and went so quickly.
At the very heart of my problem with relationships was my Dad. He was two people. Sometimes he was a good Dad and husband and then when he started drinking he was not. He was spooky. I was too young to understand. I don't think I can even begin to express how crushed I was when he tried to kill himself. I just did not want him to die. Well he didn't. But after that we still could not get close. It was many years after he passed away that I realized I did not know what made him tick and possibly he may have thought I did not care to know. Finally I have forgiven him and the younger me. There are some things that one cannot change.
So, I'm the last person to ask about helping solve a problem in a relationship. What I do now that I did not do earlier in life is try to work on making and keeping the relationships I do have. As I have said, people come on go so quickly. One day people you know are here and the next they are gone.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
The Dog's Journey Ends
The journey from Godley (Sept 26) to Hempstead was uneventful. There was no sign of the evacuation or the hurricane along TX 6. We bought gas, ate, had cold drinks, etc. After checking in our motel, we decided to drive on to Port Arthur and Beaumont to check on damage to our houses.
We got to Winnie, about 30 miles from home) before we saw any sign of damage. In Winnie we started seeing trees down and more importantly, downed power lines. We also encountered a TX Highway Patrol roadblock on TX 73. The officers advised me that we should turn around, but they did allow us through. Once we got to the Port Arthur city limits, there was another roadblock made up of city police and county sheriffs. I got through that roadblock by showing them my refinery badge.
Now we really began to see a lot of storm destruction. Many houses with damaged roofs and lots of trees and downed power lines. There was no power in the city at all. We carefully made our way to my mother-in-laws house. Once we got there the news was mostly good. No apparent damage to the house, but a lot of tree limbs in the yard.
On to Beaumont to look at our house. No road blocks coming north out of Port Arthur. Once in Beaumont, we stayed off the major streets. The damage was incredible. Mostly trees, downed powerlines, and some damaged buildings and homes.
We finally got to our house. Our damage was roof shingles and our privacy fence was down. We emptied out the refrigerator, fed the cats, and took the meat (which was still frozen) from the refrig with us in an ice chest. Two days later we moved in to my brother-in-law's (George Messer and wife Wanda) house in Baytown. He had a computer and we filed insurance claims on the roof and the fence. This was about 9/28. While we were there we bought groceries, went to the laundromat, cooked our salvaged meat, and watched TV. We were very grateful to George and Wanda for having us. We made another run into Port Arthur to feed the cats. The Port Arthur police chewed us out and did not want to let us in. One officer in particular was rude and foul mouthed. And to think, all we were doing was trying to take some responsibility for getting back and getting a normal life going again.
Well, the evacuation episode finally ended. I got a call from my neighbor that power was back on in my neighborhood in Beaumont. The next day(10/5), we moved back in. It all seemed like a dream. Did it all really happen. I recall standing in the front yard and looking at the Nissan - three wheels with no hubcaps - "I name thee the tree legged dog. You took us out of here, got us far away, never ran out of gas, and brought us home again. Well done little car. Well done." And then we started to put our lives back together. Something had changed. There was a difference. The hurricane that blew through and brought some much destruction had also brought us to a cross roads of sorts. My about that in future postings. I went back to work on 10/6.
So this is my hurricane story. Not all that exciting, not dangerous, but it did test us. I found I had the patience to sit in a cramped, hot car for 18 hours while it went 90 miles. I think my wife and I both long to leave the area. Its now Feb 5 and Beaumont is still not as it was. I guess it may never be as it was. I guess we will never be as we were, smug in our belief that it won't happen to us. But we survived. Me and the three legged dog.
The journey from Godley (Sept 26) to Hempstead was uneventful. There was no sign of the evacuation or the hurricane along TX 6. We bought gas, ate, had cold drinks, etc. After checking in our motel, we decided to drive on to Port Arthur and Beaumont to check on damage to our houses.
We got to Winnie, about 30 miles from home) before we saw any sign of damage. In Winnie we started seeing trees down and more importantly, downed power lines. We also encountered a TX Highway Patrol roadblock on TX 73. The officers advised me that we should turn around, but they did allow us through. Once we got to the Port Arthur city limits, there was another roadblock made up of city police and county sheriffs. I got through that roadblock by showing them my refinery badge.
Now we really began to see a lot of storm destruction. Many houses with damaged roofs and lots of trees and downed power lines. There was no power in the city at all. We carefully made our way to my mother-in-laws house. Once we got there the news was mostly good. No apparent damage to the house, but a lot of tree limbs in the yard.
On to Beaumont to look at our house. No road blocks coming north out of Port Arthur. Once in Beaumont, we stayed off the major streets. The damage was incredible. Mostly trees, downed powerlines, and some damaged buildings and homes.
We finally got to our house. Our damage was roof shingles and our privacy fence was down. We emptied out the refrigerator, fed the cats, and took the meat (which was still frozen) from the refrig with us in an ice chest. Two days later we moved in to my brother-in-law's (George Messer and wife Wanda) house in Baytown. He had a computer and we filed insurance claims on the roof and the fence. This was about 9/28. While we were there we bought groceries, went to the laundromat, cooked our salvaged meat, and watched TV. We were very grateful to George and Wanda for having us. We made another run into Port Arthur to feed the cats. The Port Arthur police chewed us out and did not want to let us in. One officer in particular was rude and foul mouthed. And to think, all we were doing was trying to take some responsibility for getting back and getting a normal life going again.
Well, the evacuation episode finally ended. I got a call from my neighbor that power was back on in my neighborhood in Beaumont. The next day(10/5), we moved back in. It all seemed like a dream. Did it all really happen. I recall standing in the front yard and looking at the Nissan - three wheels with no hubcaps - "I name thee the tree legged dog. You took us out of here, got us far away, never ran out of gas, and brought us home again. Well done little car. Well done." And then we started to put our lives back together. Something had changed. There was a difference. The hurricane that blew through and brought some much destruction had also brought us to a cross roads of sorts. My about that in future postings. I went back to work on 10/6.
So this is my hurricane story. Not all that exciting, not dangerous, but it did test us. I found I had the patience to sit in a cramped, hot car for 18 hours while it went 90 miles. I think my wife and I both long to leave the area. Its now Feb 5 and Beaumont is still not as it was. I guess it may never be as it was. I guess we will never be as we were, smug in our belief that it won't happen to us. But we survived. Me and the three legged dog.
