As of about forty-five minutes ago we got power restored to our area; I was out playing with the dogs and puppies next door, when all of a sudden someone's kitchen light came on. It was such an incongruous sight that at first I didn't really realize what had happened, until the entire neighborhood let out whoops and cheers and everyone rushed to call people and let them know everything was okay.

I got home yesterday about this time -- we really didn't encounter much traffic on the way in, I think because most of Louisiana hadn't been opened to returning residents. The only traffic we caught was right outside of Atlanta for construction, and then normal 5pm traffic outside of Mobile. I hope everyone who's returning today is SAFE first of all, and gets into town with a minimum of fuss and with power, etc. fully restored. I know I am beyond thrilled to have power. It really has a way of making you realize you take quite a bit for granted.

After last night when some of our neighbors got really shitfaced drunk and became quite belligerent and assholeish, I'm really glad we have power and everyone's not sitting out drinking and picking fights with one another. That kind of defeats the point of banding together as a community for a hurricane. It's disappointing. Besides - any of you who know my mother would know that she'd never "assault" anyone, as they said - she could hardly hurt a fly.

I hope everyone gets home safe. Let me know when you get in. A lot of y'all have my phone number.