The More Things Change, Part III

This is getting a little tiresome. Just a few days ago, I posted Part II here, thinking that my ultimate revelations on life, the universe and everything had been resolved, or at least, I had had my epiphany, and that would be the end of it. However, on Friday the 17th, despite my best efforts to ignore it and hope it would go away, I was forced to deal with Hurricane Dean. Granted, I did not have to deal with it in the same manner as Katrina, however, it was more than I wanted to at all.

You see, two years ago, it was on a Friday, when I went out for lunch with my "cool" co-workers for my birthday (celebrated a little late), that we had the discussion about the storm, and what would be involved with dealing with it. We had lunch at a great place called "Port of Call" (one of the best burgers in New Orleans). I should have known that there was something amiss when The Weather Channel was on the television instead of the usual variety of sports, even on a workday. We had lunch, and, just before we left for the weekend, my last words were that Katrina would turn before it could hit us, and we would be safe, I was not planning on evacuating. Well, when the storm became a Category 5 between midnight Saturday and 7 AM Sunday, it was going to make the turn, alright, but, it was too big and had too much momentum, so, it looked like it could very well hit the city. I evacuated, and passed word along to all concerned parties with my company. In CNN/Foxnews/MSNBC haze over the next three days, I found out that the storm did turn, just like I said it would. It just happened to be west of the mouth of the Mississippi River instead of east of it, therefore Buras took the big hit, and New Orleans got the west side of the storm.

This year, it was deja vu all over again. It was a Friday, there were birthday celebrations planned/going on, and here there was another freaking storm in the freaking Carribean. Our plan was to visit with the folks in Baton Rouge that put us up during Katrina. Everything was having a very familiar ring to it. All anyone at work could talk about on the 17th was Dean and what the forecast track was. One of my current co-workers is planing on going to Cancun for vacation Labor Day weekend, so, that was the big crisis - was there going to be a Cancun to go to. I had hoped that I would never have to look at another hurricane forecast and give my estimates for a long time. It seems that two years was the max limit for that.

Last year, I did not look at anything related to a storm. I was not worried about it, or, more accurately, I was ignoring it. We were fortunate that there was nothing of any significance headed our way, but, still, I let my post-traumatic stress dominate my responses to the weather.

Now, faced with that same situation again, I made the decision to face the fear that had secretly gripped me for all this time. I looked things up, talked to people about the factors in making the predictions, my accuracy over the years, and all the other things that I was trying to keep buried. On one level, it was gratifying for everyone to look to me for the answers that I had previously been so quick with. On another level, I was still afraid, as things were looking the same, yet again.

I fought through my fear. I guess, that is what courage is all about. Acting despite your fear, instead of it being the absence of fear. Now, I realize a little more about growing up, and learning from where we've been. While I still believe that the more things change, the more they stay the same, I am beginning to see and enjoy the opportunities that life has a way of placing in our path so that while things are the same, they are also able to change.

K