Across the lower States...

After saying good-bye to my friend, Wayne, I drove out of Florida with a plan to find a way to volunteer to help with the clean up of Katrina, and with the intention of seeing New Orleans since that was on my bucket list, although that term hadn't been born yet.  If I took the road less traveled I would have followed the roads by the Gulf shores.  But I didn't.  I headed inland and took Route 10, stopping in Mobile, Alabama for food, and then headed towards Dauphin Island.

Dauphin Island was remarkable for it's long white sandy beaches and it was absolutely beautiful, yet eery.  The houses were in disrepair from Katrina or totally destroyed.  And, there was hardly a soul around.  Desolate.  Creepy.  Neglected.  Forgotten.  And, it probably felt like it had been forgotten since the focus on the clean up from Katrina was in New Orleans, not here in Alabama.  Sadness came over me while I was there.  I wanted to find a place to stay there but I couldn't handle the feel of the place.  I drove inland for a few miles and found a cheap hotel using a coupon from the local paper.  Somehow this felt safer to me, energetically speaking - and if you have that mindset, you may understand what I mean.


I did revisit Dauphin Island again over the next few days.  I do Reiki and I wanted to send healing energy to this area.  I wanted it to heal, recover, and revitalize itself.  My time there was only a few days, but I am still touched by my memories of driving over that long bridge that lead to this sandy white paradise that felt so incredibly marred, although the beach was seemingly intact, yet I am sure there were geographical changes due to the hurricane.


Something was amiss while I walked the beaches.  Maybe it was the unfairness of it all, not just the destruction that Katrina caused physically and emotionally, but how the government was providing support to the people of this natural disaster, or not providing it, depending on where you were located.  Maybe it was the discrepancy of our system's decisions, and then to see how people were being impacted by them.  I don't seem to be finding the correct words to describe my experience.  I do regret not staying on the island itself.  It felt non-supportive of me when they could have used support, even the minor support of having a paying guest at the island motel.  I am of the mindset that what we all do as individuals, no matter how small, does make a difference.  So, I say this because of this knowing and wish I had chosen differently.



What I recollect probably no longer exists.  Hopefully, it doesn't.  I am assuming that the funds came, that people found a way - and that Dauphin Island has return to it's natural beauty providing nurturing to all those beach lovers out there.