Hello family! Everyone I have talked to so far is doing okay. Most of Houston is still without any power...  driving is hazardous b/c there are no traffic lights. The city is having a curfew all week, so no driving between dusk to dawn. 

    Somehow I was one of the first 100,000 to have power restored. The water was back up last night, so bathing and flushing are back up (thankfully)!

So many millions are without provsions, gas, power. It feels very surreal. Gov't is urging ppl to stay put & not venture out unless you must.
  
I went to my mom's house of Friday. She was there with AH & her b/f. We invited my b/f over too to ride out the storm. She had gotten a generator 3 yrs ago when we had the Katrina threat & Rita (a few weeks later). My mom's neighborhood got beaten pretty badly. Branches, debris & trees were down all over the roads, properties. My car was tucked in next to my mom's b/f truck. A tree fell on it crushing his truck, protecting my car & the house. My b/f & I were in the room below... if his truck wasn't there, it is likely that my b/f & I would have been seriously hurt or worse. That same tree did poke into the roof of the house slightly but not a huge or major hole.

Friday night b/f & I did not get more than three hours of sleep. We were awoken early to see the damage by my mother. It rained all day & instead of being calm & enjoying the generator ie: tv, fan...  chaos insued & she wanted everyone up picking up debris in the rain. I was extremely irritated about it. The tv was saying to remain calm & indoors as we would still have hurricane force winds until 5pm that night. My mom, her AH & b/f were all ignoring what officials were saying.  I was frustrated (to say the least) and they all had picked on me at some point.
   It was nice that after a year of knowing me my b/f was able to see that I was the scapegoat & was being picked on (emotionally abused) by them. He had never seen it before. I know it was b/c of the storm & lack of sleep. I had to be the mature voice of reason, repeating what the news was saying. I just seemed to make other's mad & it kept making me worse too.
    AH & mom's b/f went exploring to check on the property (they own some condos) where I live.  They said there was power over here. Since everyone was being so erratic, I took my cats & my b/f  I came back to my place. He just arrived at his house & miraculously he has power too & no damage. He did say most of the traffic lights are still out everywhere.

They are predicting it will take several weeks to have all of the power restored.

The storm made me feel like I have run the course with my family. I am so grateful they took me in 8 yrs ago when I left my exAH. My b/f & I were talking about the possibility of me moving to NY in a few months after he gets settled up there. I don't want to jinx anything but who knows, maybe it will work out for us! I said, "take me away from this insanity" in kind of a light hearted joking way but seriously, I am ready to move forward. Tragedies bring out ppl's true colors. I could just see that I need to move beyond this place. With no sleep I was able to make sound judgements & decisions. Everyone else was a little crazed. That was evident to my b/f too who tried to help any way he could.
    Mom's b/f & my b/f were in the street helping to chain saw a huge tree that fell down & was blocking the road.  After about five hours of work my b/f was beat & sick of it all. (And we left shortly thereafter).

I hope everything works out for his job & NY and after he moves up there he decides he can't live without me.  As of right now, this is our joint plan, unless he changes his mind b/c I won't. I want to be with him. But we just made all of these plans since the weekend. I am not going to share the news with my family. Last thing I told my mother was that we had broken up 2 weeks ago. He really never talked to me much about money before. He layed everything out for me, so I feel he is really serious about moving me with him, I simply have to focus on myself, take things ODAT and we'll see what happens! 
   The time we were "broken up" we were both miserable! Seems like he loves me as much as I love him.

As far as Houston goes... a few businesses are open but ppl are being urged to stay put. The ppl that evacuated are asked to stay out of the city until further notice. Galveston got hit pretty hard & Crystal Beach is reportedly "gone". They are now estimating $18 Billion in damages. I have a feeling many will leave this city in the next few months & weeks and I hope to be moving in 6 months too.

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts, prayers & wishes.
Love, -Kitty of Light