This is the first time I’ve had an ounce of enough mental and emotional bandwidth to sit here since I last wrote. It seems, in some way, oddly appropriate that it’s 9/11 which was, of course, a day of such destruction and loss. So much of Lake Charles looked or was so destroyed after Hurricane Laura; it was much worse than I expected, both at my parents’ home and throughout the city.

The tree loss was stunning. Live oaks that have survived countless storms were uprooted and split. Huge pines were keeled over everywhere with their root balls and still-attached circles of earth standing forlornly at attention. Mom and Dad lost all but 3 trees, including the stunning, 30+-year-old Live oak that my grandparents gave them before the house was even built. While Tom and I were in Lake Charles, there was no electricity, minimal cell service, and water was (and remains) boil-only. With the heat index, it was well over 100 every day; four people, that I knew of, died of heat exhaustion during my week in LC. None of us working to pack up and clear out the house ever peed during the day, despite guzzling gallons of water and Gatorade on a nearly-constant basis.

Some power and cellular service has been restored, but you still can’t drink the water and schools remain closed. Can you imagine trying to communicate and deal with insurance claims with only sporadic mobile access and on tiny phone screens while kids are hot, bored, and losing out on the educations they need and deserve and you or your loved ones may have lost everything?

I saw people living in tents along the roads. Mom and dad’s neighbors to the right had significant damage to their beautiful home, and after working for a full week to save, repair, and guard against further damage, their generator caught fire one morning and burned the house to the point that I don’t know if it’s salvageable. Loss upon loss upon loss. I am beyond thankful that the firemen thought to look in the garage and got the MANY full gas cans out in time.

Helpers like those firefighters were incredible. World Central Kitchen set up meal service in the Walmart parking lot, churches shared meals and supplies from their lots, Oregon Products set up a free chainsaw-sharpening station, and Tide offered free laundry stations. The insurance adjuster looked shell-shocked as he wandered through the house; he graded it catastrophic and said he would do his best. And I can’t even begin to adequately thank all of our family and friends who came to help Mom and Dad.

We got most of the house packed up and shipped off to storage units in Houston and Baton Rouge by the time I left last Saturday. And soon enough it will all be heading this way.

I am not sure I’ve ever felt so depleted, and it’s unfamiliar and disconcerting, not at least in light of the fact of COVID-19 in America, everyone at home, and the most important election of our lifetimes in just 53 days. But, I am thankful Mom and Dad are safe, that Tom and I could go help, that we’ll soon all be nearer each other, and that both Jack and Ol have had great starts to their school years. Jack is so happy at his new school which is just beyond wonderful to see. It’s so clear that both schools and all the teachers over the summer put Herculean efforts into preparing for this odd year. Cheers and thanks to all of them!