That's the day my life changed. We were getting ready for another hockey season and things were seemingly going pretty good. We had hired a new coach, who had brought a positive attitude to the team, something we had been missing the previous two years. Only days earlier, I had been named our team's General Manager, something I was very proud of. I loved my career, my work. People used to tell me I had a really cool job, but I didn't think of myself as better than anyone else. I was happy, content...life was good.
I awoke early the morning of the 22nd to a mandatory evacuation of Beaumont, TX in advance of Hurricane Rita. We had been keeping an eye on this storm in the Gulf as it became less and less likely that we were going to be spared. The previous day, my staff and I had storm-proofed our office as best we could. The computers were on the desks, covered in plastic and I had spent the day burning backup CD's of our files to take with me, just in case. After work, I went to the local park to fill some sandbags. My back porch tended to retain water during heavy rain and I wanted to make sure it didn't get in the back door. It was kind of surreal, standing there in my work clothes as dozens of residents hurriedly filled their bags. When I got home, I had a decision to make.
I had to decide what, out of everything I owned, did I want to take with me in case we did have to evacuate. I had never thought about it before. I had the trunk space of an Impala to fit what I considered too important to leave behind. Not counting the necessities of what could be an extended stay away from home. So after the clothes, food, toiletries and such, I managed to condense my life into two or three small bankers boxes. I broke down that night when I couldn't find my wedding video (which I did find later). I packed up a shoebox that contained letters, cards and notes from close friends, many of them old flames, others from my family. My valuable sports cards, my Playstation 2, my work files and some pictures. A couple of books, one about daddies and daughters, and some other things I can't remember now. And we packed the car and went to sleep, not knowing what the morning would bring.
When we woke up, we saw that the storm had taken a direct path toward Beaumont and had strengthened to a Category 4. It was time to go. Eight hours later, sometimes having moved a single mile in an hour and not using the air conditioning on a 95 degree day to save gas, we found a room. In eight hours we had traveled 120 miles...you do the math. The next day we got on the road again and headed further north, landing in Fort Worth. As I watched CNN the night before the storm made landfall, the reporter was saying that by tomorrow morning there could be twenty feet of water covering where he was standing. As I watched, I recognized where he was...he was in downtown Beaumont, near a bar my friends and I used to go to. It was weird, the possibility that your home for the last few years could be under 20 feet of water in a few hours. I went to bed early that morning, deciding that whatever was going to happen would happen and a few more hours of watching TV wouldn't change that.
When I woke up, I found out that the storm made a late turn toward Louisiana and Beaumont was spared the brunt of the damage. When I say spared, I mean that we only received 120 mph winds. No storm surge but the devastation was widespread. We stayed on the road for a few days before coming to North Carolina to stay with family.
I only went back to my home in Texas twice more after I left. Once I flew down to see if I still had a house or not. The second time was to pack everything up and ship it to NC before I left for California to continue working in hockey. My wife and kids never made it back to Texas. No goodbyes with friends. Or co-workers. Or teachers.
Maybe this blog is some kind of therapy for me. Since leaving Texas I've battled depression, had more jobs in 15 months than I'd had in the previous 15 years and generally hit rock bottom, financially, personally, about any way you can think of. I've only talked about my experiences with a few close friends.
But things are good now. Happiness has returned, work is good, life is enjoyable again. I pray that all of you who read this never have to go through what I did. But I also pray that you take a step back and look at your life now. Appreciate what you have. Love those around you. I've rekindled some old friendships since I left Texas, found some people I thought I'd lost all contact with and lost some people I never thought I would.
Enjoy life, enjoy today. Because if you look at your calendar, you'll find September 22 on there again this year.
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