If you don't know the struggle of living in Southern Louisiana... you're extremely lucky. You don't have to worry about your house being flooded and everything you own being completely destroyed. You'll never have to experience what it feels like to start over several times in your lifetime. You'll never have to feel defeated when you lose a family member in the floods and not be able to find them until the water's gone down.
A lot of people wonder why we don't just pack up and leave to another state. Why do we keep putting ourselves through this every time unexpected rain and tropical storms completely destroy the southern part of this beautiful state? The answer is so obviously easy that it hurts...
Because it's home.
Louisiana is where most of us have been born and raised. It's where most of our ancestors have been raising their families and enjoying their life for decades. Louisiana has a long history of love. Most of the people are warm and welcoming. Almost everyone would give the shirt off of their back for someone else if needed. It's where we feel safe and where we feel like we belong.
That's why it was so easy to drive for 18 hours in one day all the way down to New Orleans from Benton to help deliver supplies to help the victims of the unexpected 3 days of nonstop rain.
It was nothing like a hurricane, like Katrina. They weren't able to prepare for loss, for devastation. They couldn't evacuate. All they could do is help themselves in this time of need while the water kept rising.
Waking up at 6:30 in the morning after only getting no more than 5 hours of sleep so my boyfriend and I could leave the house by 7:00 wasn't easy. We were both exhausted and wanted more sleep. We didn't have time to get coffee or even a bite to eat until 9:30 since we had to go and meet up with the owner of the facebook page Pokemon For Progress at her house so we could go over the planning for the routes we would all take.
Shawn and I ended up being teamed up with another couple in an SUV and then another truck to complete our convoy. We set off for our first stop to pick up supplies at a cute little house in Stonewall.
It seems that we were already full at that point, right? Oh, no. We had two more stops until we were completely full.
The second was Natchitoches where we only got a bag of dog food and one box of supplies, but that doesn't matter, every little bit helps, right? The other truck that was with us had already picked up a whole bunch of horse feed.
The next stop was a cute little church in Many, and that's where we completely filled up all vehicles.
And that's just one truck load!
There was the SUV we were with, the truck, and several other vehicles picking up stuff from other locations. If I heard correctly, one location had over 7 truck loads of donations. I couldn't even believe it.
Next on the journey we made our way 3 hours away to the great capital, Baton Rouge! There was a construction company that had set up tents where we could go and drop the supplies off. They already had a good bit of stuff before we got there, and I know that when the rest of the group made it, they would have more than they could handle. Which isn't a bad thing at all, these people need all the help they can get.
Shawn and I ended up driving and hour and a half further down south to New Orleans so we could get another load but unfortunately, we couldn't get ahold of the guy that had the donations. So, that was a little bit of a disappointment but I can't lie about enjoying the sights and the ride there and back.
I've never been in a situation where I completely lost everything before. I can't even imagine how I would feel if I knew that I didn't have a home to go to anymore, or if all of my stuff was ruined besides the clothes I currently had on. But I know for a fact that if it ever did happen, I wouldn't have to worry. I know that the people of my state would break their backs for anyone.
You do realize that they call it "southern hospitality" for a reason, right?
That's why I love my home. Not only is it beautiful but there's so much soul and love floating around from people to people. I honestly wouldn't trade this place for anything, and I hope no one honestly thinks we are just going to give up on this amazing land. We can't. We'll always protect and try to restore our home.
