Now that we have electricity, where's the cable?

Iwantmy
Originally uploaded by veryapeaz.

Remember that game telephone we played as kids? One person whispers something into another's ear and so on. The last person generally ended up hearing something different than what was initially whispered. The following account is third-hand, so it may not be completely accurate but it's close.

Sunday morning my dad was checking the hundreds of different message boards out there for information on my aunt and uncle in Biloxi and cousins in New Orleans. He ran across a message from a customer service person at a cable company in Biloxi stating that Marge and Bill Rybka are okay.

It turns out that sometime Saturday evening or Sunday morning the electricity came back on at my aunt and uncle's house. My aunt immediately called the cable company to see when she would get service again. (I mean honestly, forget about food and water -- we want our MTV!)

The customer service lady asked my aunt if her family knew she was okay. My aunt said it never dawned her to call everyone. So, the customer service lady put Aunt Marge on hold and looked up Aunt Marge's name on the Red Cross Web site and said, "Ma'am. Your family is looking for you. You need to give them a call."

So, my dad finally got to talk to his brother Sunday. Uncle Bill told my dad that he and my aunt tried to board a bus to New Orleans on Sunday to ride the storm out with my cousins. The bus driver talked them out of going to New Orleans (thank God!). So my aunt and uncle went to a shelter instead.

The day after the storm hit, Aunt Marge and Uncle Bill got a ride from one of the shelter occupants to their house and decided to stay there. There wasn't much damage to the house, except for wind damage. They've been living off of tuna fish for the past week. I don't know what they've been doing for water. Although they do have running water, it's not potable.

Monday, my dad got a call from a shelter saying that my cousins are alive. I don't have much more information than that. I don't know which shelter they are in -- if they are in the state of Lousiana or Texas or what. But I know that they are okay!

Today my dad is on his way down to Biloxi to pick up his brother and sister-in-law. I'm so relieved for him. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him. He's been wanting to drive down there for the past week but my sisters and his wife have been telling him to stay. He said he could hear his brother asking, "Teddy, why haven't you gotten me?" That's heart wrenching.

I know if the situation was different and if it were one of my sister's missing or whatever, I would have gotten into my car and driven into a war zone to get them out.

Thanks to everyone for sending the good positive energy. It worked!!!!!