I remember it like it was yesterday... maybe it was yesterday... I was sitting at home in my easy chair. Things had been a little tense since my oldest had moved back in. She had been starting her senior year at Auburn University. I’m not going to church things up and tell you she was an honors student but she seemed to be on a path anyway. We had talked about grad school applications, trips she was taking with friends to football games, the usual stuff when we got the news that AU had been shut down, charter revoked, the whole deal. Something to do with a corruption scandal that started with a football player and went all the way to the BoT and higher ups in government. Some people pointed their fingers at jealous parties in Tuscaloosa, some a wild maverick of a casino owner, I don’t know how it all shook out but next thing I knew my oldest was back at home two semesters short of her bachelors and waiting to see if those previous semesters even counted. I remember picking her up on campus and driving her home. It was a long, quiet, uncertain drive home and when we pulled in the driveway it was all we could do to unload her stuff back into her room and hold it together. Her mother, bless her, went to pick up some dinner. I think she left so we wouldn’t see her cry if were being honest but turns out it was for the best. Because that very same day was the day everyone remembers- I got the same knock on the door millions of us got: it was the day Barack Obama showed up and took my guns. We all had seen the news and knew this was coming but to see the man himself show up on my doorstep, hands out, man that still feels like a punch in the gut. I heard they were all destroyed like they said, heard rumors he sent them down south to his buddies in Venezuela, don’t really care either way but talk about your bad timing.
Look at me, just rambling on. Anyway I was sitting in my easy chair watching the world go by when I overheard something on the radio about our hometown. I didn’t listen too closely because I was answering the doorbell. There stood two state troopers telling me I had 24 hours to leave my home. What’s this about? I asked and they told me that our state, Louisiana, had been shut down. Something to do with- get this- a basketball player. Well buddy let me tell you when it rains it pours. Walked outside and saw all of my neighbors getting the same news. We all kinda looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and started packing up. I mean what else were we supposed to do? The whole dang state was being cleared out for “storage” or some nonsense. Well, it’s always something, I guess...