The only time I really remember having horrible brain fog - which, this present time frame of my life is nothing compared to then - was the summer of 2005.
The day before my birthday, we were moving from Buras to Pineville. I had a job at Pineville High School, and Lee was going to be attending LSUA and working maintenance at the campground in Woodworth.
I was sad to leave Buras...but I knew that we were supposed to go. The morning we moved, I woke up and felt the Lord speak to me, "See now that my hand is upon you." I knew it was God because I would have never thought of that on my own.
We packed up our Uhaul...they had given us an "upgrade" because they were out of the one we ordered since people were packing up to evacuate from Hurricane Dennis. It was junky and kept over-heating. Lee's dad drove it to Pineville for us, Ms. Teresa followed him in their van, and then Lee & I each drove our cars.
His parents took Hwy 90, and Lee & I took I-10. They had to stop several times because the truck kept overheating. We got stuck in traffic.
While we were in New Olreans, Lee and I were both listening to LifeSongs 89.1 FM. I remember being on the westbank turning onto the expressway. I heard this statement, "The will of God will never take you, where the grace of God cannot keep you."
Lee and I both heard it, but we didn't talk about it on the phone or anything until we stopped to get something to eat on the other side of Baton Rouge after being in traffic for over an hour.
When we were about 30 minutes from Lee's parent's house, his dad called him to tell him that the truck had caught on fire in the driveway, but the fire department was on its way. As we were turning in the neighborhood, Lee called me to tell me that his dad had called him again to tell him that they couldn't put it out, and we were going to lose everything in it.
My heart was broken. Those were my things. Things that I had since I was a child. Irreplaceable things.
I didn't understand why. I called my parents. Everyone was crying. It was a major loss.
Were we really supposed to move? So many questions and doubt filled my mind...and as Lee and I were asking "why," a neighbor, who had lost her husband to a heart attack said, "why not you? He knows you can handle this." She was right. Peace flooded us.
I had a scrapbook that my cousin Sylvia had made for us from our wedding day. It was little slips of paper that people signed instead of a guest book. That was in the truck. The firemen searched for it, bringing me books to look at from inside the truck. They tried so hard, but couldn't find it.
So, my brave hero of a husband went into the truck after the fire department left and had put it out. He searched for over an hour. He had to put fires out again.
I had given up hope, but he hadn't. He found it. It was soaking wet, but the pages were able to be saved. He came in holding it, all cut up and covered from head to toe with soot...but he found it.
The days and months following the fire were hard. The truck sat in the driveway for a few days afterwards...it was horrible. They said a brake line broke, and with the engine overheating, it just caught on fire. Thankfully this didn't happen while my father-in-law was driving it!
Then Katrina came through and destroyed my whole families homes and belongings. It was just a rough time. I cried a lot. A whole lot. I was seriously depressed.
But, I made it through that time, and I'm a better person now because of it.
And I know that I will make it through this season of brain fog just fine, too.
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