Phusebox

the trip to the coast

May 07 2006

photo from tracylynn

well, tracy and i went on a high class gulf coast tour a week ago, and it's just now all setting in...

we visited LSU and my friends in Baton Rouge (see above picture) as well as spent alot of time in New Orleans. it was really great to see old friends, and to find out who's married and having babies and all that jazz. (it's okay though cause most of them are older than me!) also to find out who's not doing so well and so on...
apparently there's a rumor in Baton Rouge that I'm moving there... but it's just a rumor (i think... we'll see)

my friends have very recently planted a church in Baton Rouge that i'm really excited about. ring community church

on the day we flew out we drove to Pascagoula where i lived from age 12 until my 2nd year in college. we went to my old house. the people who lived there were living in a trailer in the front yard, which is how most of the town, if they are still there, is living it seems. my house had no windows and the front door was open... so i snuck in and videotaped a skeleton of a house that i had spent all my teenage years in. there was nothing but new drywall from about your waist down... which led me to believe that was the water line.

i mean nothing. no kitchen, no toilets, no place in the corner where me and my best friend emily had written our names... nothing. i knew i was trespassing and shouldn't have been, but i didn't care at the time. later after talking to my friend jennifers parents, i realized that it was really stupid of me to just go into the house, apparently they'd been shooting people for stuff like that. oops :)

it's not the same town. i kept telling tracy how pretty it had been. I lived 1 block from the beach, and now most of the buildings that were between my house and the beach weren't there. so strange and honestly really sad.

we did have rainbow cookies from andersons and chili cheeseburgers from eds, and that won't mean a thing to most of you, but hopefully it will make Laura and Garreth smile.

photo from tracylynn

this was the bridge that connects ocean springs to biloxi. i can't tell you how many times my friends and I have driven across this bridge just cause it was fun. the brigde wasn't really even so when you drove across it, your car would kinda bounce. if you yelled or sang a note your voice would bump as well. we were easily entertained.

this scene shocked me, as did all that i saw the rest of the afternoon. the beachfront in biloxi and gulfport has disappeared. the restaurants that we'd go to for fun on friday nights are gone, but some of the signs are still there. as we were driving it hit me that so many people aren't going to be able to show their kids where "so and so happened" cause it's not there anymore. the olive garden where i had my first real "the boy pays" date, is gone. my favorite place to go during the summer of 1997, fun time USA was gone. the church where i heard my dad sing christmas music at every year, well it's only half gone. from the road you can still see the balcony and the screen above the choir loft.

anyway, it's pretty surreal and if you have a chance to, i suggest you go see it for yourself. I'm glad i got to make the trip, it was theraputic, and it reminded me over again that life is short and precious and this stuff here on earth is so temporal. and that God's grace and love are amazing. and He's about restoration.