SBA

Yesterday I had my fingers printed for the last item to send in to SBA. Since it is treated as a total new hire, I will be investigated before the appointment is complete. Therefore, some of you may be called. Please say nice things about me. Anyway, it reminded me of my last assignment with SBA, which was Hurricane Katrina and Rita.

I was called in August 2005 just as John, Marjorie's son, was putting down new carpet in my bedrooms and most of the furniture was in my living room. SBA gave me two days to get things in order and then I reported to Sacramento. We had training and prepared materials and then the following week a few of us were sent to Houston to acquire cars. We then drove to Baton Rouge. We slept in a gym most of the time while there. The stories from the victims were heartbreaking.

The next week, I was sent to head up the Port Arthur center. I was there one day and then the warning of Hurricane Rita was given and we had to evacuate north. We spent one night in Tyler, Texas and then headed for the Fort Worth office. As soon as things were calm we went down to Houston, Texas and I drove each morning to east Texas to a small town of Spurger where I was the SBA rep for a month. East Texas had been badly hit by Rita and trees had crushed many homes. This is when I lost 20 lbs as there was little palatable food to be found. Many of the churches were helping the victims. That was really good to see. Unbelievably, I was able to fly to San Diego to attend Kristi's wedding!

Luckily, I was assigned to head up the Galveston office soon after I returned and that was a really nice part of my trip, just because Galveston is such a pleasant place to be. By then the restaurants were all in business and it was like a vacation. We were seeing both Katrina victims, who had fled from Louisiana, and Rita victims. When things slowed, it was back to Beaumont, where I stayed until my back went bad and I went home in March.

I was so tired and depleted after this trip I decided to retire from SBA. I thought I would be able to manage things without working and I was anxious to be able to work on my little plot of land.

Now, here I am again, preparing for disasters...we will see how this goes and if they ever call me out...and if I can handle it!