a bit batty

Jason and I arrived in Boca Raton last night. Jason's dad, Randy, lives with his girlfriend, a cardiologist named Lori, in a gated community on a golf course. It's a surreal place; the kind of place where you have to show your ID to get in, where security guards will call you up in the middle of the night to let you know that your garage door is ajar, where the ground crew arrives with electric clippers the minute one of your bushes sprouts an errant branch. There are around 2200 houses in the community, divided into 14 different little enclaves. Randy lives at the end of a street full of identical pink houses with identical cathedral ceilings, identical swimming pools, and identical Saabs and Lexuses (Lexi?) in the driveways. Culture shock to the extreme.

Just an hour ago, Jason heard a press conference with Mayor Nagin where Nagin said that as soon as he gets test results back from the EPA, he'll be able to determine who can move back and when. This announcement is expected to happen on Thursday. Nagin said that it wasn't inconceivable that my neighborhood would be allowed back-- back to STAY-- as early as next week.

That could change everything. I'd love to be able to get back home-- a bit horrified by what I may find when I do. He said he won't allow people back in before hospitals are operational and grocery stores are open. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm truly teetering on the edge of batty these days. I owe phone calls to so many people, but I am just not really up to talking about things these days. It's even a bit of a chore to be social with those people I have to be social with. I'm sorry. I promise, I'll pick up the phone soon.

Love you all.