Name them one by one....

Kara and I take hurricanes seriously. I know some Baytownianites evacuated to New Braunfels, or College Station, or the Woodlands (?), or even Oooooklahoma. We wanted to KNOW we were far enough away to be safe. We went to Seattle, Washington. It was actually for a conference for Kara's work that had been planned for months. While there in a comfy hotel room, we started talking about how God had blessed us regarding mean ol' Rita. I wrote down a few of them.

09/16/00 I start working for the City of Baytown. Keep reading for relevance to the hurricane.

11/??/04 I step down as a supervisor at COB, and go from working every weekend to being off every weekend. (short lived due to staffing changes, but great)

05/??/05 Able to start back to school at UHCL. Due to poor choices in the past, it's basically my last chance. I find 2 summer classes that work for my degree plan. 1 was online and therefore caused no schedule conflicts. The other did cause some schedule conflicts, but I was granted leave time from work to go to the classes. It then turns out the class will only meet about half the time, and those conflicts are cut dramatically.

08/??/08 Fall class schedule works out totally. I find 6 classes that fit my plan that meet Mon-Wed. I am able to register early, and get all 6. I am again granted leave time to go to class when there is a work/class conflict. This enables me to work up to the 5 year anniversary of my hire date. That enables me to be vested in the retirement plan, and be paid for accumulated sick time.

09/15/05 Last day of full-time work. I am now a part time dispatcher. (I've already been back to work once, and have 71 hours scheduled in Oct) Part time employees are not considered essential, and I do not have to report to the police department at 7 am Friday and spend the next 2 days there like my co-workers were forced to do. Now look back at the first item in the dateline. I didn't know there would be a hurricane 5 years and 1 week later, but God did.

09/20/05 Able to start boarding up windows with immense help form Mr. Bob Dooley. I am convinced that guy knows at least something about EVERYTHING.

09/21/05 Finish boarding windows with more help. We leave for the airport later than planned and hit heavier than expected traffic. We call the airline and are told "If you don't make your flight, your stuck in Houston today. All other flights are booked solid."
We get inside the airport and to a kiosk about 10 minutes to late for our scheduled flight. We ask an agent what our options are. He tells us he can put us on standby but, "It doesn't look promising." At this point my beautiful wife (due to this news and accumulated stress I'm sure) begins to cry...standing there holding her purse and carry-on, and other stuff...just big tears rolling down her face. The agent (his name tag said Sheraz, not sure if that was first or last name) begins tapping away at his keyboard. We all three stood there for about 3 solid minutes. Sheraz banging away on that keyboard, and Kara and I just standing there praying. Then somehow, someway he says "I got you on" and hands me 2 boarding passes! I do not understand Continental's system. We were told twice the plane was already full, and standby did not look good. Then we have tickets. Sheraz continued to open drawers and look for something. He finally said, "I'm sorry. I thought I had some tissues but I don't. If you go downstairs there is a bathroom where you can find some." I'm not big on hugging guys I don't know, but Sheraz almost got one. Almost. Our seats weren't together but OK. We had a few hours to wait, but put them to good use, by eating, and taking a few breaths. We get to the gate, and I go on to board first since me seat was in row 30-something. The gate agent scans my ticket and I'm halfway into the little walkway thing when she says, "Sir wait, there is a problem with your pass. Please stand over here." Kara's row gets called, and she gets the same thing. So we stand there as the plane fills up wondering if Sheraz did something he shouldn't have and couldn't have. People on the standby list try to board, and are told "Hon, you can't board. This plane is full. You have NO seat on this plane." Great. Then we are handed two new boarding passes, and told to go ahead. This time the seats are together, and closer to an exit. We fly out of Houston as traffic jams grow to historic size.

09/22/05 Rita weakens and starts to track more easterly. We learn that most of our family is out of the Baytown area or on the way out. We enjoy good food and accommodations mostly for free.

09/23 and 24/05 Rita continues to weaken and move towards the East meaning Baytown/Houston could be spared the hardest hit.

We enjoyed the rest of the trip after learning our home would most likely be OK. The blessing continued (and continue). We went to a beautiful National Park, and had a close encounter with an Elk. We returned home Sunday night, and drove home from the airport with hardly any traffic. Our house was fine. A few misplaced yard lights and boarded windows are the only evidence there was a storm. Our family and their homes are fine for the most part.

God is awesome.