By Charlotte Byus
This past week, Marathon Oil in Texas City closed down their new construction and laid off hundreds of workers. They said for at least a month or longer, many of the workers lived here at the park. These families mostly were from Oklahoma and Arkansas. Saturday morning, families were starting to pick-up items outside their homes and pulling BBQ’s, tables and chairs into trailers, or their boats on trailers. By Sunday, there was a caravan of trucks, trailers and homes on the way out of the park. They were heading home, where ever that is. Some have children in school, others were only husbands and wives, but off they went. I met a man yesterday who was one of the last to be laid-off and starting to pack up and heading for the hills of Arkansas. He was having trouble using Texas Unemployment and as it was, I had just received in the mail a truck load of paper from TWC, so I gave him every phone number on the pages. He was very grateful, apparently if you have ever filed, you must remember that pin number, even if it was years ago. There is no way to reset a new pin number, he had waited on the phone for hours with no one answering.
On Sunday, I heard the Wal-Mart in Kemah had RV toilet paper, so off I went. I was out before sun rise in “shoes for standing” for hours, smart, right? I drove into the parking lot and there was already a line with a guard standing at the door. Some people were going by the rule, 6 ft, and some were right on top of each other. Because the couple in front of me was following the rule, I did too. Finally, the guard talked to us to let us know what had been received overnight. RV paper was not one of them, so back to the truck I went. Off to 646 box store and guess WHAT! It was stacked with my paper! Life is good.
Our daughters are taking care of their parents, Di has purchased items she thinks her Mom and Dad may need, and Rene’ and Jon are bring the items and fresh eggs over this evening. Rene’ reminded me she will not come in the house or give us hugs as she is still working at the apartments she manages. Darn.
Well friends, stay safe and try not to frown at the person sharing that small space with you. They are doing the best they can too.
[March-30-2020]
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