HURRICANE IKE!

Well, Texas is dealing with another hurricane, and this one is expected to be much worse than Eduard was.  Pops (Matthew, LOL) and I are both essential employees, so we are here.  I am at the airport, and I am expected to stay for the entire weekend.  Pops is at home today, but will have to work the weekend, and his day starts really early tomorrow.  The girls are with my mom.  She enrolled herself and the girls in an emergency evacuation program, where in case they do have to leave, they have free transportation to shelters further inland.

I have my "house" packed in the trunk of my car; I expect to be pretty comfortable.  We were really prepared this time.  We should be, with all that we've been through with Katrina!  LOL  However, I am not feeling like this storm will be as bad as Katrina was.  We will have some damages, that's for sure, but at least we will be able to return home after it is all over.

I made sure that I was clean, packed well, tied up all of my loose ends, and spent the rest of the morning making love to my husband.  Before Katrina hit, Matthew and I had a HUGE fight.  I didn't have a chance to tell him goodbye, and that I loved him (My mom, the girls and I stayed in the Superdome, and he rode the storm out with his family in his mother's home until the flood waters rose too high for them to stay there safely any longer).  We had taken each other for granted then, but when we were reunited over a week after Katrina hit, I was so happy to hear his voice, that I cried bitterly.  I hated the fact that I had wasted so much valuable time being angry with him for something that I cannot even remember now.  And I vowed that day that if there ever was a next time, and if I had the chance, I would make sure that I let him know how much I love him, how glad I am that he is mine, and how eager I am to see him again.  There is no question in his mind today, that's for sure!  I made sure of it.

On the way to work today, it looked like a ghost town.  Everyone that was able to do so evacuated.  The city officials wasted no  time in making sure that there was no one left here that didn't have to be.  At the time of this writing, the coastal areas are getting hit pretty hard.  Only time will tell how bad this will be for all of us.  We have no flights scheduled for the weekend, and they already issued a media message to the information line, discouraging many passengers from calling us unless it is absolutely necessary.  We still have some 24 to 48 hours of this to go.  But I am not worried; God is with me.  He was with me through Katrina, and He is with me now.  We will be fine, no matter how this turns out.

I will probably write an update later.  It's a free day for us; we can use the internet, and we parked our vehicles in covered parking today.  I am glad that we all are safe, at least for now.

Adrian