As I write this, the coastal bend area of Texas is being pummeled by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey. The area is undergoing massive flooding; damage is immense. The recovery could take years.
At the same time, friends who don't live in Texas are e-mailing and messaging me, asking if we are okay, if we're surviving, if we've had any damage, if there's water in our house yet. I look out the window, where the sun is attempting to peek through the clouds and a cool (for August) breeze is blowing. A few rain showers have come through, but, except for the adolescents of the household not being too excited about starting school tomorrow, we're doing well- because we're actually nowhere near the hurricane.
I know people mean well and they are concerned, and I appreciate that greatly. Texas is a big state, but you might not realize how big it is unless you actually live here, and decide that it might be fun to go on a road trip through West Texas to visit Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. You drive and drive and drive and drive and then realize that you're only in Abilene and you still have to keep driving and you are still nowhere near the New Mexico border- and in fact, it might be another hour before you even see a Dairy Queen because you are stuck in the middle of nowhere on a two lane highway behind some truck towing some giant farm machinery that is going only 30 MPH.
That ended up being a great road trip, though. Good times.
I can understand how people might be confused, however, because if you've ever driven down Interstate 45 from Dallas to Houston, it takes an hour to get out of Dallas and before you know it, you're in the outskirts of Houston because Dallas is huge, Houston is massive, and both cities just keep growing so eventually they'll probably just merge into one massive metropolitan area with Austin and San Antonio. Maybe there will be a tiny rural circle left in the middle of the I-45/I-35/I-10 triangle with nothing in it but some cows and a Buc-ees (if you're not from Texas, you'll have to look that up).
People who live in Texas tell stories about friends and relatives from smaller states who come to visit and will say things, like, "Hey, let's drive down to San Antonio and see the Alamo this morning, and then after lunch maybe go to South Padre Island!", and the punchline of the story always involves the Texan explaining that they live in El Paso or Dallas or Lubbock and that it will actually take hours to get there so it would probably be an overnight trip, and the not-from-Texas relatives are astonished to learn this. I never believed these stories until I went to New England on a work trip and drove through three states in the same time that it takes me to drive to work.
Several years ago I volunteered at work to go to Beaumont, Texas after Hurricane Rita to assist in a disaster recovery mission. A woman taking care of logistics (who was probably not from Texas) called me to make arrangements for me to get from my house to Beaumont. She wanted me to fly into Houston and pick up a rental car at the airport.
Nah, that's OK, I told her. I'll just get a rental car here and drive down there. That way I can bring more than one suitcase of stuff (I tend to be an overpacker, especially when I know I'm going to be away from home for a long time).
How long will it take you to drive down there? she asked me.
About six hours, I told her. Plus or minus an hour based on traffic.
That's a long drive! she exclaimed. Are you sure you don't want to fly?
Nope, I said, I drive an hour to get my hair cut. I'm fine with it. Besides, I hate to fly.
You're crazy, she told me.
I'm fairly certain I'm not crazy, although people who come here to visit in August might dispute that. But just like almost every other Texas resident, I do drive a lot.
So to my friends and relatives who live beyond the Texas borders, we are doing fine, except for the usual back to school angst. Houston and the coastal areas, however, could use your prayers and your support, not just now but during what will likely be a long recovery.
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