So the Houston/Galveston area didn't get a direct hit from hurricane Rita, but it nearly might as well have. It is an interesting thing to be living in a city trying to get back on its feet. The news was filled with the mass exodus of over 2 million people from our area, but then shifted to the damage in Beaumont and Louisiana (and rightly so). But here in Houston the city is trying to get itself back together, just as if we had been hit hard by a hurricane. It isn't like 2 million people can materialize back into their homes. Businesses are still shut down, there is no gas and little food available, schools are still closed and the mail hasn't been delivered in days. It will all be okay in the end, it is just interesting. We went through a hurricane, just without the hurricane.
The media coverage was also intriguing. I know the media is full of crap most of the time, but hearing what they are saying and living another really drove it home. For example some reporters kept talking about the 5 million people in the Houston/Galveston area that would be horribly damaged from the hurricane..... uhhh there are only 3.8 million. A million people got tacked on for drama. And bits about people who wouldn't evacuate really chapped my hide because the real story is 1) we didn't due to the traffic and 2) the mayor said not to due to the traffic. But my favorite was some reporter blabbing about how horrible the wind was and it is getting worse and worse! drama blah drama! Umm, dude.... a guy walking his dog just passed behind you. Please.
Tonight we got out for the first time and managed to find a restaurant open and serving food. It was so nice to be waited on and handed a hot yummy dinner. But the highlight of the evening was when the preteen was trying to listen to a convo between my husband and I and he pulled the old standby of this is an A, B conversation, C your way out of it, and she whipped back “this is a taco burrito conversation, nacho” (say it out loud, it is freaking funny, especially after 4 days of busting your butt and being totally stressed....wine helps too).
Ah well, this too shall pass. Cheers all and I promise to quit blabbing about the hurricane, it is just been an all consuming factor in our lives this past long, long, blurry week.