Not all unkempt people are evacuees but all evacuees are unkempt

I can say this without rancor nor am I poking fun at a serious situation but merely pointing out my perspective on what it means to find, that because of a disaster, you have become an evacuee. In an earlier post, I talked about carrying our luggage and other paraphernalia to our rooms without hotel assistance. The elevator did work so that eased our predicament in that we didn't have to climb the stairs to the 16th floor. To lessen how many trips we would have to make I had three tote bags on my left arm and a cardboard box full of snacks for the children braced against my right hip. My son-in-law held the door for me using his left hand as his right arm was weighted down with what he was transporting to our costly retreat. I dropped the box and the management stood there and watched it all without lending any assistance. My daughter has always told me that there is a dignity surrounding me but, after over a 10 hour harrowing nightmarish drive, I arrived looking more like something "the cat dragged in". I checked my shoes before we went in to make sure that I wasn't trailing toilet tissue behind me. There was a strong possibility that could be after all the dirty restrooms we stopped at on the way to our "vacation retreat". Any makeup I started out with had melted away in the heat. My slacks were wrinkled and my shirt sported various stains, my hair was covered with a scarf but still it was an unruly mess.

In my life, when I prepared for a "vacation" there were new clothes, shoes etc. and I stayed well-groomed but we weren't preparing for a vacation, we were getting out of harms way and should something unforeseen happen on our trip we had things like flashlights, batteries and food that did not need refrigeration. Lots of cash in case places wouldn't accept credit cards or checks. If I could name only one thing that we learned from Katrina .. that would be .. we know how to survive. On our return trip, when we arrived in Mobile, AL, Mississippi cars were side by side in the two lanes going home and many of us will never leave again.