Written Sunday, 31 August 2008, 8:45 AM

If Gustav hasn’t done anything else, it has brought me some perspective.  I was not here during Katrina so all my information has been second-hand, but now I see what this is all about.

I didn’t sleep too well last night (Saturday), but I did sleep better than I may have otherwise.  My family (Kim and K) are safely at my sister’s house in Georgia so as a husband and father I feel as though priority number one are taken care of.  I will head off to work so I can take care of the young men and women I’m in charge of - priority number two.  I have spent the better part of the morning taking care of things here in the house - a low priority.

My wife will be the first to tell you I love my gadgets, but preparing for this hurricane has caused me to put some things into perspective.  Yes, I have gone to some lengths to reasonably protect my personal property from the storm, but I didn’t go too far.  These things can be replaced, my stuff isn’t the most pressing matter at this time.

***Note - I did NOT do anything that would cause damage to any of my things.  That may sound crass at this time, but you would be surprised what some people will do to get over.

The bottom line is simple.  We don’t know how much damage this hurricane will do to the Gulf Coast and the state of Louisiana, but it seems like the emphasis has been placed on the most important thing: getting people to safety.  We can rebuild and replace everything else.

As you read this, we need your prayers, well wishes and positive thoughts. Yes, we live in Mississippi, on the Gulf Coast, and Gustav is coming at us. I’m writing this on Saturday because I don’t know when I will be able to write anything again.  While that may sound bad, we have to prepare for the worst because people died last time hurricane (Katrina) preparation was taken lightly.

I think the worst part about this whole thing for me is I have to take my two-week old daughter and wife to my sister’s house; my job forces me to shelter unless the hurricane is a 4 or higher.  Being away from them is going to be torture, but I must be smart and cautious with their safety.  Man, I’m going to miss them while we are apart.

As of Friday, the preparations on the Gulf Coast seemed to be minimal.  I saw one building being boarded up and that was basically it.  Wouldn’t you think more would be going on after what happened with Katrina?  I wasn’t here then, but I would have thought people would have been moving about getting ready with a little more urgency.  I was able to go into the grocery store and get supplies easily - traffic in the store was normal.  I found this odd.

When I woke up this morning (Saturday) Gustav had gained a little steam.  I’m hoping it turns left/west.  I don’t want to wish something like this on anyone, but the people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans haven’t nearly recovered from Katrina.

Damage from Katrina is still easy to see both physically and emotionally.  Buildings and businesses are just starting to really come back strong, but it will still take years to get things back to what they used to be.  If you didn’t know, this is really a nice place to be, minus hurricane season.  Within the last month there was a ground-breaking for a new plaza that really had local residents upbeat about the future.  Now this.  I have mentioned the emotional tone in previous posts, but to talk to someone who was here during the last storm is something else.  I just found out this week that a co-worker lost everything in the storm; I have been working with her for almost a year and never knew.  On the other hand, some people will make that part of their introduction (I’m exaggerating slightly).

I’m worried for the safety of my family and feel sorry for those going through this again.  Think about us…pray for us.