Yes, I am still alive.

For those who don’t know, I live in Santa Fe, Tx, between Houston and Galveston.  So you can imagine the last week I have had.

Give me some time to get over Harvey.  While I did not take on water, I have electricity, and food, I am going to have my first night of sleep soon without being worried or scared what the following morning will bring.

I took a nap today that lasted over 5 hours, not waking even when M walked into the room, which is HIGHLY irregular of me.  Tomorrow, I will start seeing what needs to be done around the house.

We went driving today to see the damage.  The difference each day brings is amazing. We escaped the house yesterday for 30 minutes, having to turn around when water blocked the roads.  I wish I took a video today to show you the difference.  Night and day.

But… We headed out to Friendswood to find a way to work for my mom. And it’s heartbreaking there.  While they have gas, they also have flooding on an epic scale there, along with having SEEN on friends posts others having a boat on the roads we were taking.  Full fledge boats. With only being able to see the roofs barely of the buildings we were looking at now.

While the rains have stopped, the flooding is still present.  There are areas STILL impassable by flood waters, and we can see the cars lying in the water, with windows broken to escape the waters.  The horror stories we watched, especially the first day when literally 10 minutes down the road by car, Dickinson was flooded.  The road we used today to access I45, was a raging river on the first real flood.  The one that covered my yard, flooded my garage enough to move paint cans that were half full, full plastic tubs that have weight to them.  Luckily, it did not flood our vehicles, but damn.

My family made it through it, including my extended family.  There are members who have gone out in their boats to help, in their trucks and jeeps.   WE rescued a family member and had them stay here, and hating the fact we cannot escape our town to help others because none of us had a boat or truck.

Now the cleanup has started.  It smells.  I feel so sorry for those who are by the full creeks and are suffering through the flooding still occurring for them.  The bayous are full.  The rivers are cresting, the dams are spilling water.  Areas that never flooded before are now under water. This is not a joke.

I have heard online the question of why didn’t we leave.  There are 6.5 million people in Houston (Houston includes the surrounding areas also people… All the way down to Galveston and so on.  There is no break in the roads the cities and towns are all blended into one city).  Last time we tried to escape a Hurricane, Rita happened.  It was a horror situation that looked like something out of a movie.  People were still stuck on the roads DAYS after they tried to leave.

Now let’s think about this.  I watched I45 and I10, two major evacuation routes, have water that was 16 FEET deep.  Imagine if all those cars were still on the road when that happened?  Instead of the rising death toll that is not yet a 100 at the time of this post, it would have been thousands if not reaching hundreds of thousands of people.  More people have died in a car than in their houses.  Even right now.

However, in all this mind numbing horror, there are bright spots.  Neighbors helping others.  Complete strangers coming from everywhere to help.  Knowing personally some people who fought against everything to be able to give of themselves, even when they have lost everything.

This is what Texas is about.  Don’t be waylaid on stories on the bad parts of Harvey.  There are plenty on the news that you can watch for free, instead of the lies that are on Facebook.  Look for the good stories, of people coming in to help.  Of stores that are opening, cause I can tell from a personal experience of HEB, that the stockers there bent over backward trying to help those of us that came in for supplies.  Target did the same also!!!

So send your prayers, stop back talking the Mayor of Houston, he had Lives he had saved taking the route he did.  And try to look at the fact that it is regular joes who bought out the stores of boats so they could use them to rescue others.

That is being #HoustonStrong.