Gulf Tragedy

The view from my family's fishing camp in Cocodrie - Feb. 2009

This blog was meant to not only give our friends and family a glimpse as to the happenings with a boy so many prayed and longed for to arrive, but also to document the happenings of Patrick's (and now William's) childhood.

I am not going to write a political viewed post on the tragedy that is occurring on our beloved Gulf Coast, but I am going to write a post so that my sons in the future will have an idea of what an impact this has had on a way of life, that although I did not grow up amongst, has created memories for Matthew, Patrick (who will be too young to remember), and me.

Patrick and his Maw Maw aboard the Sidney Joseph Shrimp Boat Labor Day Weekend 2007 - Cocodrie.

I was born and raised in southeastern (so to speak) Louisiana. None of my family speaks the Cajun French dialect (though how I wish they did) but I grew up with the culture. My family members know how to hunt, fish, and well enjoy the bounties of Mother Nature just like most from where I am from. I have had the fortunate life to spend ample time on the water (rivers and gulf) through family members who owned 'camps' on the river who took us boating and through the wonderful opportunities that my step-father has allowed my sister and I to share in through his abilities to take us deep sea fishing in the beautiful Gulf, allowed us to enjoy their fishing camp on the coast south of Houma in Cocodrie, and through the location of their home off the Tickfaw River, where I have taken a many boat rides through the bayous and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of alligators gliding just below the surface, seen beautiful egrets land, and the pelicans dive for the nightly dinner.

Like most from where I am from, food is the center of any gathering, and well usually there is some type of boil or fry going on from crawfish, shrimp, or crabs to a big ol' fish fry.

But these luxuries that we have all taken for granted....well those aspects of our lives are now being threatened. As I sat and watched the benefit concert on t.v. tonight being put on by Jimmy Buffett, tears streamed down my eyes as he sang a more modern version of "When the Coast is Clear". I cried because the aspects of life and the culture that I wanted to share so badly with my sons is threatened. I want them to be able to go fishing with their grandfather out in the gulf or along the barrier islands for flounder, speckled trout, and red fish or take a boat ride with their uncle in the 'grandkids' boat that my mom and step-dad gave all the kids for Christmas one year that proudly dispalys each grandchild's name along the side. I want them to be able to watch a sunset over the marsh with the pelicans perched on top of the pilings with their pouches full of the bounty they just scooped up just as the shrimp boats leave for their evening troll.

But these aspects aren't the only parts of our family memories that are being attacked. It's the memories being made now currently on the panhandle coast of Florida with Matthew and Patrick as they try and enjoy time with Matthew's family on the sugar white sands of the crystal water beaches....each day hoping that when they rise that the oil had now rolled in on the waves during the night. These beaches hold memories for both Matthew and I. My parents have pictures of me sitting where the water crashed onto the beach in Panama City when I was only 18 months old. I remember taking family vacations as I got older and swimming in the Gulf...only taking for granted we would be able to return each year. Now I sit in bed due to doctor's orders and wonder how long it will be before I am able to walk those sugar sand beaches and take a family picture of the soon to be four of us.

Hurricanes move out just as quickly as they move in....but this 80+ days of waiting for the spilling to stop is like another nail in the coffin to the way of life Matthew and I have known and grown to love with the fear that we will not be able to share it with our sons like we used to.

My heart is broken for those who have for generations made their living off of the bounty of the Gulf...respecting it and passing this way of life on to the next generation so that we too could continue to share a way of life with our families. If only others would have been more respectful we wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place.

Patrick and William - I hope this tragedy does not continue much longer and that your family members will be able to share with you the love of mother nature's beautiful Gulf Coast and it's people from the marshes of South Louisiana to the pristine sugary shores of the panhandle of Florida. I pray that the luxuries that your father and I have had along with millions upon millions who have now taken for granted will be afforded to you both.