Thursday, February 23, 2006

Mississippi Day Four...Oops

Okay, now yes Marlaena was very right, I did forget the second half of the day, which is silly because I was a bit excited to share that part. Apparently I'm not as good of a multitasker as I thought, math homework, talking online, checking my mail, and blogging are not good activities to mix all at the same time.

Although truthfully, I am multitasking now too...which is probably not the smartest thing to do, but I can't really help it. This is highschool, with all my homework, and afterschool activities (FBLA, Musical), along with showering, eating, and sleeping, running this blog gets pushed a bit to the side.

When we left the Pecan farm we met up with everyone and took a drive down the coast to two more projects we were going to be working on. Driving along the coast was almost as devastating to our hearts as the land itself was devastated. Our hearts and minds poured out to the people that had previously lived there. Everything was disastrous. It was heartbreaking seeing the frontsteps that had led up to homes that had been, wealthy mansion-like beachfront houses, and now the frontsteps led up to nothing, the house was gone, only the steps and piles of trash remained, trash, everything broken, water-damaged, moldy, nothing worth salvaging.

All of those homes gone, I have heard people say that they only want to help those that weren't wealthy, they want to help the lower-class areas. In my eyes, however, everyone, the previously rich to the previously poor, they are all in need, they all went through the same torture and devastation, some have said that the people that were able to afford land that close to the beach should be able to get back on their feet without our aid, but really the people that had lived in those houses, most likely, had spent most of their money pouring it into the house, and now, even though the house is gone, and all that is left is junk that may or may not have even originally been from that house, they are still having to make payments on the house that they had bought and the land that it had sat on.

Imagine having over ten feet of water completely engulf your house, and a hurricane come and blow it to pieces, and those pieces either floating away, or being blown away, and then when you are able to come back to see your house you find a few of your belongings (all too weathered and moldy to be kept) and belongings from houses all around you. I have never seen devastation to this extent, and I hope that nobody will ever have to see it again.

After driving along the coast we went along a side neighborhood and deeper on land, to places where, though they were horribly devastated the structure of their house was still standing. We went first to a womans house that needed a new roof put on. Half of our team stayed (basically the strong people and the people that didn't mind being up high. Then the other half of our team went to a mans house to clean up debris. Now with all you know about me from my other posts, which half do you think I was part of?....Now if you guessed the roof then good job! If you didn't guess the roof...then well maybe you should reread my other posts about the trip.

All of the people that came on this trip are really great, I love them all, everyone on the trip cared about each other, and everyone looked after each other. Now as much as it was sooo great being in that type of loving atmosphere, today...it wasn't really working on my side :-P This roof that we were working on was much steeper than the last roof we had ventured on. The last roof definatly had a tilt but this was about double the last roof in tilt. Also this roof was slippery, it was covered with (i'm assuming) moss, and thus, according to the people that did go up on the roof it was very hard to stay on. All of the guys and Ginny and I were there that day. And I guess they all decided that... (even though, really did I have a greater chance of falling? I have pretty good balance, and unlike a lot of the guys, I really wanted to go up on the roof.) they decided that I should stay on the ground :-( This made me very sad. I wanted to go up, and it was sad knowing myself that I could do it, and them not believing me....(one and only time I wish I was a guy! lol...not really but you get the idea). Anyways the next day I was assigned to go with the drywalling team, and since I had such a memorable and amazing experience there, I hold no grudge towards anyone that decided not to let me on the roof. :-P LOL I would love them either way though so yeah! Well now that is a much better account of the end of Tuesday!




Luv ya all!

2 comments:

marlaena said...

you are such a great writer laurel and found words to describe what we saw - no easy task, so thank you for sharing.

thanks as well for loving us and not holding grudges (very grown up of you and more important Christlike) - i know that was a growth experience for you to work through the disappointment and it's cool how God honored your humble attitude. and i hope you know it was because we love you very much!

and you multi-task very well - i was getting dizzy thinking about all the balls you have up in the air.

keep blogging - you are doing great!!

Tim Parenti said...

Really good balance? Don't forget you're somewhat lopsided!