Another week has passed, and with its passing came a sense it may not be much longer before my life will have returned to a full sense of pre-hurricane normalcy. Almost no one is talking about the storm anymore. In fact, if I had not watched the World Series this week, I myself may have not even been reminded of the storm which took so much from me.

This past school week at Lamar University felt the most normal, like how it was before the hurricane. Going to class began to seem less like a lovely little escape from the effects of Hurricane Harvey. Instead, classes reverted back into the stages of a seemingly necessary evil. That’s not a bad thing though, as this reversion has taken me one step closer to returning to the sense of pre-storm normalcy I’ve been attempting to fully realize for the past few months.

A major step forward has been made in my home’s recovery, as the new drywall has begun to be installed. It’s nice to be reminded of what the structure of my home actually looks like, because after almost two months without anything inside it had almost begun to just look like a tomb. I’m optimistic by the end of next week we will not only have all of the drywall installed, but the preparations for painting the walls will have been put in place as well.

This past week I also had the unfortunate pleasure of putting together the inventory for our insurance company of personal items that were damaged or destroyed by the hurricane. To say this was a painful task is an understatement to the utmost degree. Not only was it difficult from a logistical standpoint, having to input and research prices, but it was also just plain challenging to look through the photos of all of the pieces of my life that are gone forever.

On a personal front, I feel like I’m beginning to return to more social aspects of my life pre-hurricane Harvey. I have been able to make it out to a few local events, and even attended a Halloween event at one of my favorite local venues here in Beaumont, TX. I also had the pleasure of attending the premiere for a documentary film I helped make in the spring and summer of this past year. Being able to experience a slice of my future career, such as this event, is helping to ground myself as this recovery moves forward.

I’m unsure of what the future weeks entail for me. If they are anything like the months and weeks that have come before them, then I know it will be a struggle, but a struggle that is constantly pushing forward. It won’t be too long now before paint and furniture return to my home. It’s my hope that not long after that happens, I myself will also become a fixture in that structure once again.

Dispatch from Lamar will be a weekly feature in The Hawk.