Give me my money back,
Give me my money back, you bitch!
— Ben Folds Five, Song For The Dumped
Guess I owe everyone an explanation of the Hurricane Ivan fallout. Well, two anxiety attacks and panicked packing and storing later, D and I raced to Houston with our Important Belongings (in the little Honda, after dropping my mother off at the airport). Yes, we took the CPUs and expensive electronics instead of the art – we’re tech geeks, what do you expect? It took us 10.5 hours to get there and, oh, only 9.5 to get back, even on the back roads. On the bright side, we spent a few dry, lovely and allergy-filled days with Rolf, Tim and The Farm, not to mention a pilgrimage to Rudz (!!) I’d never have known that DeQuincy, Louisiana exists but for this storm.
Anti-climactic moment of the decade: On our return to NO 6 days later, we found that the city, being on the west side of the counterclockwise-swirling hurricane, suffered a severe drought during our absence, and that all the little houseplants wilted, instead of landing on a rooftop 5 miles away. Our philodendron fell over and landed in the stinky pond that is yet to be dredged out one of these years. And, Machelle called to inform that she was alright: the only hurricane damage she suffered was a leaf that fell off her brand spanking new banana plant. Not being wholly insensitive, we held the poor leaf a wake. Or was it to celebrate our homes being intact, I don’t remember …
On a more somber note: Never will I forget the way I felt preparing for the evacuation. Even back in 1990, when I had a feeling that I might never again see my home in Kuwait, I didn’t know this level of apprehension and confusion. It’s a horrible feeling to realize, so suddenly and so violently, that you feel exactly the way your parents felt when they left their home up to the whimsy of the gods. Or Iraqi invaders and local pillaging, in their case. That even this earthly semi-permanence cannot be conquered in the face of something as awesome as a hurricane is a very cleansing and terrifying experience. I hope you never have to go through evacuation, and then, I do.
