Went Back to the Old Apartment...

We were hoping we would be allowed inside our apartment again today to retrieve more of our belongings, assuming nothing has been damaged since yesterday. Unfortunately nobody was being allowed in at all today, both for safety reasons and because the weather was so nice and sunny, they wanted to give the workers all available unfettered space to make repairs or at least strive to get tarps and braces up in the hopes of preventing more damage from...you guessed it - more rain.

This was the first time April got to see the damage to the building herself. Basically it was kind of my first time as well since the sky was not all to clear yesterday and the sky was pitch black the other night, save the exploding electrical transformers, the fire in the church next door, and all of the emergency vehicles.

April described the devastation of the third floor apartments, sans roof, as if she were looking at cubicles on top of a building. No roof, wide open spaces, square pseudo-buildings. She was a bit freaked to see it all, as anyone would expect.

Later when we stopped off at a store before she had to work (she's missed not a single minute of work since this happened...she deserves a damned raise!), she suddenly came out to find me and tell me how happy she was I didn't get hurt. She was happy before, but seeing the roof completely torn from the building and all of the other carnage among the complex made it considerably more "real" to her. She was a bit depressed all day.

We both have had a few moments of sadness, mostly brought upon by the sadness of the others around us. That, and the fact that when it is YOU who is talking to the Red Cross and being given comfort & aid ( and a nice little prepaid debit card for food purchases ), you realize that it is YOU who is the victim of a natural disaster and not someone else. Bear in mind, at least in our specific case, I consider this to be a "white collar disaster". While many have been displaced and inconvenienced, even traumatized, most are safe and unharmed. In our case, we are extremely lucky in most every way and that makes our disaster not hold a candle to that of the people above us in the building and nothing quite like any of the folks who suffered through, and continue to suffer in New Orleans.

I took care of as much as I could today. We've got a strong lead on an apartment and will be dropping off the application tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

I've done some work to secure a storage space, tried to get our mail, and other necessary errands.

At one point we were told we'd be able to get in the apartment for another 15-minute visit today. Then, a few hours later I was told that we could not get in until Wednesday. They started filling up slots like appointments with a doctor or a hairdresser and simply booked up Tuesday. Ah well.

The good news is when we get to go in on Wednesday morning, assuming all goes well and doesn't change, we will be allowed up to two hours to gather as much as we can. This made April cry with happiness because she simply wants to know most of our things are secure if we are actually heading out of town this weekend.

We are also able to bring as many people as possible to help us. So we are of the opinion that we could get nearly everything out and stored if we have enough people. That is, of course if anything is still there and nothing changes between now and then.

The better news is that we were told that the building will not be demolished and there will be no "one day only, get yer shit and leave" kind of event. So we can schedule other times to retrieve whatever we can't move in two hours. We were also told that whatever is left will be somewhat secure an certainly there for us whenever we can get it all.

The best news, depending upon your perspective, is that we will very likely be getting to take the vacation and have our stuff waiting for us when we return. The building managers, some of the Red Cross people, event a few maintenance people insisted that, if nothing "worse" happens, everything will be safe and there for us. We were also reminded of things we already knew like...at least if we go to Vegas on a vacation we already paid for, KNOW there will be at least 6 days where we have a place to stay. :)

There are still lots of "ifs" and many things that need to go well for us to be the luckiest damn people around. But in all honesty, right now we already know that there are MANY from our building who are worse off that we are. Given all that has happened and how well April and I have fared, right now, the only way we could be any more fortunate is if it never happened at all. All this can change at any moment. The rain is starting to fall again as I finish this all too long post. Many families have many more needs than we do. I still don't know if my computer, clothing, cigars, & papers are soaked with water. For all I know a raccoon has been crapping on my pillow for two days.

No matter, this is a fairly positive report I'd say. Thanks all for the support and please keep on the watch as I may be calling upon you yet. In any event, I can't say "thanks" enough.