Ready Or Not, Here They Come

I'm sure that most of you wondered why I never bothered to post all the action-packed details of my adventures with Officer Young on August 13. I meant to do so, but fate dictated that my experiences were not to be shared. Throughout the course of my day with Adam, I kept detailed notes along the lines of:

7:24am- Officer Young and I are dispatched to Pacific Beach to investigate a burglar alarm at a Washington Mutual. Arrive to find exterminators accidentally set off alarm while tenting building. Am disappointed at lack of shootout with bank robbers.

These notes carefully detailed everything we did. Every call we responded to. Every arrest we made. Every perp we took behind a building and beat senseless with billy clubs.

After his shift had ended and we were driving home, I decided that I was hungry and that it was time for me to eat a granola bar. Eagerly, I unwrapped the delicious treat and began to devour it ravenously. After I had consumed the entire bar, I glanced down at my lap and saw that there were granola bar crumbs all over my notebook. Being a courteous friend, I decided that I did not want to simply brush the crumbs onto the leather seats of his fine Passat. After thinking for a moment, I rolled down the window and tipped the notebook outside. The crumbs were swept away by the wind but, sadly, so was the notebook. We circled back to look for it, and saw it sitting in a section of the freeway on which we would surely be killed if we attempted to retrieve it.

I'm not entirely certain what made me think that I could hold on to the notebook in the face of gale force winds. Perhaps my adventurous day had planted the illusion in my mind that I was, in fact, Batman.

In other news, school starts tomorrow. I have spent the last week or so in my classroom (which is truly MINE now) getting it ready for the kids. My walls are mostly bare...I'm just sort of figuring that I will add stuff as the year goes on. But, I have the furniture set up the way that I want it, and everything is more or less ready to go.

Getting my own room was entirely overwhelming. When I first entered it one week ago today, the furniture was all jumbled together in the center and everything was totally disorganized. I was in the room almost everyday since then getting it ready.

The thing is- no matter how prepared I am, the students are arriving at 8:00 tomorrow morning. I think I'm as ready as I could possibly be. I am rather nervous, but also fairly confident that my day will go well.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has made it difficult for me to concentrate on getting ready. I have told a few of you that somebody who is very dear to me lives there. In fact, she lives (lived?) near downtown New Orleans, and everything she had is now gone.

I had last spoken to her on Sunday evening and have been completely unable to get in touch with her since then. This morning, however, I received a message from a friend of hers who informed me that she was alive and well, but that everything she had is gone.

I'm not sure I've ever had a friend go through a natural disaster like this. Not being able to get in touch with somebody...not knowing if they are alive or dead. That's not an experience I'd wish on anybody.

I've always wondered how people who have lost everything manage to carry on. In Kosovo, I have met people who have returned to their homes to rebuild their lives after fleeing war and ethnic cleansing, but have never been sure how I'd react to such a situation.

I think I am blessed for having never had to endure such tragedy. My friend in Louisiana now has to pick up the pieces and figure out how best to go on.

Being out here in California, completely unable to help, makes me feel entirely useless as far as this tragedy is concerned. To not be able to do anything to help a friend in need is not a good feeling, but that is what has been going on the last few days.

I don't know...For now, I'm just glad that she's alive.