Portia's Promise

She told me she'd keep me up to date, and she's kept her promise. She's shown me things from my past...not tattered memories. Old posts where there were piers...piles of bricks where there were pieces of my past.

Portia found some internet tonight. Not a lot...but some. And it was good to talk to her.

She's working hard out there, but she's loving it. So far. Along with the bright optimism, there's the realization that this will take years to fix.

Maybe never.

Yeah...it's amazingly devastated....but the people are incredible

I love how on so many of the homes the phrase "The South will rise again" is spray painted on the front

We've been working on how to relate the story of what she's seeing there. She told me she had to trek through deep mud in the morning to get to a house. I can only imagine how the place looks.

This morning they were taking out appliances from a house so it could be demolished. That close to the ocean, the storm surge would bury houses. They are now unlivable, because of disease and structural damage.

But others aren't so bad, they also prepped another house for interior paint. They have a central working area, set up in tents. Most of the FEMA agents are in small, truck-drawn trailers. Even with the all that they are doing, it's just chipping away.

I asked her about Gulfshore Baptist Assembly, and if it was still in operation. It's right on the coast, so it could, very well, be gone. That would be more memories lost for me.

It's funny, actually. She's going to my world, where I have to show her what to see. So far, it hasn't been pretty.