My Hurricane Katrina Anniversary # 3

Dave and I are refugees (or whatever term they finally coined as PC- I think evacuees). Except, we didn't evacuate. Most of you know that Dave and I arrived in Memphis from New Orleans. Dave is originally from New Orleans, and after college, I moved to New Orleans too! So, I had 6 fun years there. :) Most of Dave's family lives in New Orleans too, so we have good ties to a great city.

I will try to make this anniversary story succinct...I know no one likes a long blog post. But, bear in mind that although 3 years have passed, this is the most historical and traumatic part of our lives as we know them. So, to keep it simple, Dave and I stayed through Hurricane Katrina (mainly because his mom was staying and we didn't want to leave her, and also because we wanted to experience a big number categorical hurricane).

So, what happened? Why was this so hard on us? After all, people say Katrina didn't do anything to New Orleans, the flooding did. To those people, I say you have no clue. You weren't there. You will never know the experience.

• We sat in fear and awe for an entire night, listening to a sound you can't imagine of the forces of the earth coming over you. As the dawn approached, you could actually see the trees horizontal from the forces and things of all shapes and sizes being blown down the street. We saw the hurricane- and felt it. It carries a sound I will never forget.

• We had family lose houses- every possession they ever had. Dave's grandmother's house was literally picked up and moved on top of another house. His uncle was stuck in the attic and had to use an axe to break through. We know so may stories like this.

• Both Dave and I lost our jobs. They were flooded with water that destroyed everything. Jobless without notice- try it sometime. Feel the panic of no income.
  

• When we finally tried to leave the city we couldn't. There was no gas. There was no way out. The bridges were collapsed or flooded over.

• We came to stay with my parents with nothing but the clothes we had on our backs. Nothing else. We accepted clothing and food from churches and the red cross. And, the media and other small minded people tried to make us feel guilty for it- as if we were working the system. It was depressing and made us feel smaller than an ant. The hypocrisy is- well, indescribable honestly.

• My parents were happy to have us, but 1 week turned into 3 months since we couldn't get back to our house. Military had our area shut down. My parents love us, but it was a strain on everyone. Oh, and Dave and I were newlyweds sleeping in bunk beds.

• Dave and I were immediately stripped of our friends. Good and great friends- scattered all over the world. Till this day, we still have not seen most of them, and we may never see them again. No proper goodbyes.
  

• Depression/post-traumatic stress- it is all very real. Dave and I were very unhappy for a very long time, but we didn't know why. Things have worked out wonderfully for us- so many good things have happened to us in the past three years and we are living a great life. But, the depression that we both experienced for a couple of years after the hurricane just couldn't be explained. It affected us very deeply.
  

Just this past weekend, we met a lady at a party that was from New Orleans and evacuated here too. It was instant bonding. We share this amazing tie to strangers...it is hard to explain. It feels as though only they can understand the person you are now based on the past- and they don't even really know you.

Just a few pics from the collection. I really wished we had taken so many more-


Pic 1: There were trees down everywhere. One came down on my mother-in-law's home where we stayed the night. Having a tree come through your house while you are there is really scary!


Pic 2: Aunt Daryl's house. She had the most beautiful, well-cared for home. And she had just gotten married. Every gift...everything she ever owned was in here. This is what the flooding did. If you didn't get to see it first hand, it is really hard to describe how it completely destroyed homes.

Pic 3: The day after the storm. Dave and I are smiling- we really had no clue what was going on at this point. Remember, no electricity, TVs, or CNN. So, we thought it was pretty cool we were alive. See the barges in the background? This is less than a third of a mile away from my mother-in-law's home. What we didn't know while we were huddled in the house is that these barges were coming over the levee- threatening to breech the levee near us. There were 5 or 6 right on top of the levee where we stayed. Just 2 more feet of water from the hurricane, and we may have been in really big trouble.

Thanks for entertaining my non-triathlon related post. Dave and I are doing great now. We miss New Orleans, our family, and our friends tremendously- but we are happier than we have been in several years. Happy Anniversary!