We are VERY fortunate. It’s weird, but this hurricane has made me a more caring person and more interested in helping others. There’s a specific event that happened during the hurricane to open my mind that we all are here to help others regardless of what race they are, how much money they have, etc.

That event was I had to drive from my parents’ house to the office I work at to check out damage. On the way back, I took a wrong turn and ended up on some back roads. Multiple roads were flooded and closed. I could NOT figure out how to get back to where I needed to be to go back to my parents’ house. I ended up in a small town that was on the way to their house. Every road I went down was flooded and I got turned around. I was literally stuck and helpless.

I finally pulled into a rural Baptist church parking lot and knocked on the parsonage door. I was shaking like a leaf and told him I was lost. He told me he could get me back to the city of Clinton but could not get me to my parents’ house. So I went to Clinton. I had 93 miles left of gas, no gas stations were open, no hotels available, people were flat out rude to me. I had nowhere to go or no one to help.

But God helped me. I looked at maps on my phone and found out that the way to my boss’ house was not flooded. He led me to call my boss, who told me to come there. I made it to his house that night, almost on empty. My boss welcomed me there. I realized how fortunate I was because no one else helped me at all.

I stayed at his house that night and filled up with gas the next morning. Then he and I needed to go to the office the next day, and I followed him. It took us 4 hours to make a 45 minute trip. Our office was in great shape, and we were excited. Then I went on to my parents’ house.

While I was following my boss to the office, we had an interesting experience. We got to a road that was flooded, where people were stopped and talking about other roads to take. Many Hispanics were there and couldn’t speak English and couldn’t understand where to go. They were stranded on the sides of the road. My boss knew enough Spanish to tell them to follow us, and we led them to a safe place.

All of that helped me to realize that it’s good to help people, no matter who they are, to be kind to others, to love people.The storm definitely has opened my eyes to loving other people more.