A bit more tentative . . .
How quickly things change. Not really sure if they will let our zip code in on Wednesday or not. Seems that the federal government thinks that Nagin's timeline is a bit ambitious. We will know more tomorrow.
Lately I am really wondering about smells and mold/mildew. I have been looking at lots of disturbing images on the Internet of people returning to their homes which are completely moldy. Granted, these homes flooded. And ours didn't.
But our house has been boarded up for three weeks. Amazing -- three weeks! And we might have had water get in from the storm. And our climate is like a rainforest anyway. So what will it be like inside our house? Something will probably be growing in there. And our refrigerator? That is surely going to be really gross. Do we get a dolly and take it outside to clean it?
Yes, my current fixation is mold/mildew/smells. And safety. Does it make sense to go back when the water has not been cleared for bathing? How do you clean up a nasty refrigerator and then not bathe???
I guess I still hope that maybe they can get the electricity and water situation in shape in the next couple of days. It's possible, I suppose. Have to be patient and wait and see.
I've been trying to be better about being patient and waiting with everything -- job situation, home situation -- trying to be willing to just be. I am still an information junkie. I read everything on the nola website religiously. I read just about every single post on the Uptown bulletin board, trying to gather information that will help me know what to expect in my own neighborhood. More and more people are going in and out and then posting about their experiences. They are quite varied. Some hopeful and positive, others sad and despairing.
When nothing else can be done, it helps to do things with the kids. Took them hiking on Saturday, which was great! They loved the trip -- thought that every part was amazing, especially this cool little cave that we showed them.
When I sit up in my room for large chunks of the day working on the computer, with the cats who have taken to sleeping a whole lot, I am reminded of the V.C. Andrews book, Flowers in the Attic. It's a silly gothic novel (popular when I was in 7th grade or so) about a family of four kids who had to stay in an attic for years because their mother could not reveal their existence for fear of losing her inheritance. So the kids basically grow up in the attic and are severly warped for the rest of their lives, documented in a series of sequels that become increasingly creepy.
Of course, I'm not trapped in an attic. I don't have an evil grandmother feeding me powdered donuts laced with cyanide. I can get up and drive off at any time, to the store, to the woods, to volunteer at a shelter, etc. But still something feels similar. Maybe it's that all of my possesions that I am sure about, that I know still exist and aren't moldy, are located in this one room. Maybe it's just that weird limbo feeling of life going by around me while I can't get on with my own. Maybe it's the strange way that time stretches and shrinks.
I think the cats have the right idea. They have just decided that the easiest way to get the time to pass is to sleep. Yeah -- I'm about ready for a bite of a magical apple that will just let me nap for a few weeks. By the time I wake up, they'll have figured out the electricity/water/re-entry issues.
I guess I'm realizing that no matter how hopeful I am, things really aren't going to be even close to normal for a really long time. And that even if my house isn't moldy, there are so very many that are. So yeah, feeling a bit more tentative today.
Lately I am really wondering about smells and mold/mildew. I have been looking at lots of disturbing images on the Internet of people returning to their homes which are completely moldy. Granted, these homes flooded. And ours didn't.
But our house has been boarded up for three weeks. Amazing -- three weeks! And we might have had water get in from the storm. And our climate is like a rainforest anyway. So what will it be like inside our house? Something will probably be growing in there. And our refrigerator? That is surely going to be really gross. Do we get a dolly and take it outside to clean it?
Yes, my current fixation is mold/mildew/smells. And safety. Does it make sense to go back when the water has not been cleared for bathing? How do you clean up a nasty refrigerator and then not bathe???
I guess I still hope that maybe they can get the electricity and water situation in shape in the next couple of days. It's possible, I suppose. Have to be patient and wait and see.
I've been trying to be better about being patient and waiting with everything -- job situation, home situation -- trying to be willing to just be. I am still an information junkie. I read everything on the nola website religiously. I read just about every single post on the Uptown bulletin board, trying to gather information that will help me know what to expect in my own neighborhood. More and more people are going in and out and then posting about their experiences. They are quite varied. Some hopeful and positive, others sad and despairing.
When nothing else can be done, it helps to do things with the kids. Took them hiking on Saturday, which was great! They loved the trip -- thought that every part was amazing, especially this cool little cave that we showed them.
When I sit up in my room for large chunks of the day working on the computer, with the cats who have taken to sleeping a whole lot, I am reminded of the V.C. Andrews book, Flowers in the Attic. It's a silly gothic novel (popular when I was in 7th grade or so) about a family of four kids who had to stay in an attic for years because their mother could not reveal their existence for fear of losing her inheritance. So the kids basically grow up in the attic and are severly warped for the rest of their lives, documented in a series of sequels that become increasingly creepy.
Of course, I'm not trapped in an attic. I don't have an evil grandmother feeding me powdered donuts laced with cyanide. I can get up and drive off at any time, to the store, to the woods, to volunteer at a shelter, etc. But still something feels similar. Maybe it's that all of my possesions that I am sure about, that I know still exist and aren't moldy, are located in this one room. Maybe it's just that weird limbo feeling of life going by around me while I can't get on with my own. Maybe it's the strange way that time stretches and shrinks.
I think the cats have the right idea. They have just decided that the easiest way to get the time to pass is to sleep. Yeah -- I'm about ready for a bite of a magical apple that will just let me nap for a few weeks. By the time I wake up, they'll have figured out the electricity/water/re-entry issues.
I guess I'm realizing that no matter how hopeful I am, things really aren't going to be even close to normal for a really long time. And that even if my house isn't moldy, there are so very many that are. So yeah, feeling a bit more tentative today.
posted by carla at 10:52 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home