Back Home for now

Well we made it. I think we got most everyone in the Shelter off to something better. Some were lucky enough to be able to return home with only a little work done by contractors, while others needed to find somewhere to go for a longer duration while they decided to return or to pick up new somewhere else.

I was really amazed by 2 things. Long before the news was broadcasting it, many of the people in the shelter were talking about starting life over somewhere else. We had one family donate use of some land for a man to buy a mobile home a put it on. Others found economy apartments in the area of the shelter and used that to get back to some sort of normalcy before they made further decisions. The second thing that really amazed me was how many of them had family that wouldn't take them in to care for them. I realize that some people have small homes or children and busy lives, but for crying out loud these are close family members. We had one lady whose daughter refused to let her come live with her. We also had a gentleman whose closest living relative were grown grand-daughters who wouldn't take him, but they insisted on using his truck to move items for themselves and such.

I have been back a few days now and had a chance to unwind and such, but man of those people are still in my mind. Hoping that they somehow find a way to establish some sort of quality of life. I certainly hope they will, they were far too interesting a group of people to not.

Well now normal life begins again and already some office politics are about. During the relief effort, my office was moved to a field office near my home so that it would be easy for me to get back and forth to work until I got deployed. Now that I am back, I am still using the field office for a location and when I went up to my actual office the other day, one of the members of my team ran up to me and gave me some mysterious warnings and such. I dismissed them in a vain attempt to exit the political ruckus. I think she could be a little bit of a "stirrer" herself. I think she likes to see others get into all this stuff so that she can seem concerned and get attention from them when they seek her out to talk about it. I am very sure that it all has to do with a grab for attention and since I am not a pyschiatrist, that is all I will give to it. I think my day will be better off giving it just that....nothing. Office politics will not get me farther in my career and certainly can get in more trouble than anything else.

Well, back to the rat race. I am still doing hurricane stuff, but now it is managing information on long-term shelters in the region and making sure that appropriate agencies are up to date with information.