Ike's Aftermath

When you see boats on the freeway and parking lots, it starts to sink in how bad it’s gonna be.

More so when you know that you live two blocks away from thebeach.

11 days after Ike hit us, they finally let people back to Galveston, and I finally saw my house.

All throughout Galveston, the grass and trees were brown. I couldn’t see if it was the mud or because the fall season had begun. But I’ve been here two years at least to know well enough that we didn’t have those bright autumn colors, so it was mud.

My house was still standing but the back fence was down. I was mumbling a prayer when I inserted my keys to my front door. The keys turned ok but the door wouldn’t budge open the first time I tried to push on it. Ok, this is bad. I shoved the door with more force and it opened.

A musty smell wafted through my nose and although it was very dark because the storm shutters were up, I could see that my wooden floors have expanded because of the water, hence the difficulty open ing the door. I went to the den and it was filled with water still. The rugs in my room and in the living room were soaked and I had clothes and shoes that got wet. The newly painted and tiled den still had about 4-5 inches of water which needed to be drained.

The comfortable large couch, the dining tables and chairs, the rugs, the tv stand, the surroundsound speakers, computer tables and chairs, the printer, the washer/dryer, lawn mower, fridge, oven, dishwasher need to go. I think all three beds need to go too. A lot of personal items are destroyed – books, journals, clothes, sweaters, shoes. Wooden floors and all the walls needed to be replaced. This house was not going to be habitable for at least a month.

I go out of the house before I suffocate. Outside all my neighbors are carrying stuff out of their houses. They smile and wave at me and I do the same. I realize that they got more furniture, having lived there far longer than I. One neighbor offers me ice and lunch and starts a cheerful chit-chat. He proceeds back to empty his house and I start to take pictures of the damage for insurance purposes.

I opened all the windows and the sliding door to air out the house when out of the corner of my eye,I saw a brown thing dart on my lawn. It was gone when I turned my head. I kept still with my camera and wait patiently.

Just as I suspected, a familiar figure peeked from behind the tree trunk before it made a dash up to the branches of the tree in front of my house.

I smiled to myself. He survived.

We all did.

God is good. Life is good.