K + 5 - Moving Beyond

Revisiting this post from last year:

It's 8:00 pm on 28 August 2010.    Five years ago today, we were on the road to Perry, FL and only a mere 4 hours into our evacuaton.    We had not yet even made it to Mobile from from Pass Christian  and though, we did eventually make our destination after 13 hours in a caravan of two cars, two trucks, two boats, 6 cats, a dog, and 6 humans and a sea of humanity surrounding us, what I witnessed on the road I can only describe as a cross between the Twilight Zone and Apocalypse Now.

We managed an hour nap before getting up to watch on TV as the storm rolled in,  making landfall at Pass Christian/Bay St. Louis on 29 August 2005.    I can't even begin to describe what I was going through during the drive, later as we watched what we knew deep down was the end of things as we knew them  and how I felt (how all of us felt) when we returned.   It is and was a place I do not want to revisit save for the reunions and it is a place I pray we never have to visit again.  

So, today it is time to  focus on spirit, friendship and renewal.  And, dare I say, it is time to move on, at least for me anyway.

I often wonder where we would be if not for Katrina because I know we all had plans.  Everyone knows what I am talking about.   There are things we expected to do in those coming years and yes, if not for Katrina we might have done them and we might still have our things, our homes, the places we had before.....   But for me,  it is what we wouldn't have had  for which I am most grateful to Katrina.    GRATEFUL????    How can I be grateful when I (we) lost everything?   Oh, there is so much.....

Katrina's destruction was extensive, uninmaginable....  unfathomable if you had not seen it first hand.  There is no picture or film that can truly capture the devastation as seen by the survivors and we are all survivors.   

But.... in that devastation we discovered things.   Not material things though.  Intangibles...

We found a strength within us that we never new existed or most have never had to look for.    

We realized our true friends.   We know who will  be there even  in the darkest of days.

We discovered  an indomitable spirit that is our community, our Gulf Coast.   We came together to rise above an adversity like no other.

We found ourselves...hopefully to never be lost again.

Peace
:-)  T

Tattered Memory - Poetry

Making the big push to finish my poetry book this year.    Here is another completed poem.   35 complete with 15 in the queue to finish and then, magic, a book!!!
Tattered Memory

I am a placeholder...
a bookmark
in the transition of
another's life.
When I am replaced
the page I am on
will be turned.

New stories will
be written
And I will slowly fade
into the past,
like so many other tales
that are read
and forgotten.

Someday,
the book will be opened,
and the faded,
dog-eared page
will invoke a smile
of the memories
written there
and I will be remembered
once again,
a devoted,
true friend.

@copyright, all rights reserved 2010 TLP

R.I.P Randy Brooks (BR)

Sitting here surrounded by strangers on this four hour flight on my return to Mississippi  I  find myself thinking about precious time;

On Thursday I learned of the death of a former classmate and friend, Randy Brooks, affectionately know as BR to all of us rockheads from the geology department at USM.   As a freshman in my first semester, I found myself at a party held at the house where BR and Pettway lived. With braces and pigtails (yes, really) I walked into the kitchen where BR was blending strawberry daquiris.   Before he handed me one, he looked at me in all seriousness but with a wry little smile and asked if he could see my driver's license.   From there out for the rest of my college career and still among friends from the program, I was and am known as driver's license (DL), thanks to BR.   BR was an amazing soul with a heart of gold who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.    He was hilariously funny and always smiling with a contagiousness that no matter your mood, you couldn't help but be happy.

Although it has been years since I have seen him, the news of his death hit me hard.  Harder than I would have expected.   I suppose because we are all getting older and the chance of losing a friend grows every day.  Now, as I confront my own mortality,  I am reminded that life is short and tomorrow is not guaranteed. It is my hope that we will all strive to live a life that matters, live each day to its fullest and hope that along the way we make a difference in someone's life the way BR made a difference in all of ours.  Godspeed BR, you will be missed.

To the people in my life who are making a difference in mine, know that you are loved and always in my thoughts.
Peace, T

Mind Games

She stood inside the doorway

staring at the empty street,

Wondering if she had the strength

to leave and not get weak.

She was broken, bruised and battered,

but she could not give control

to one who claimed to love her

but didn't see she mattered.

She'd waited far too long

to take this final step

on her long journey to freedom

from the secrets that were kept.

©Tracy Patman 2010