Passages of Time

It was 2 years ago today that Hurricane Katrina swept through this area and changed the lives of many of my friends forever. It upsets me that the media forgot that the hurricane actually landed in Mississippi and not New Orleans. Yes, I will admit that N.O. was and still is devastated, I have seen part of the devastation myself. But so much of the media is focused on what the flood did over there and forget that entire TOWNS were basically wiped off the map. You drive anywhere near the beach and in a lot of places, all you will see is empty concrete slabs that used to be somebody's house.

I will never understand what these people really went through, and hopefully never will (knocking on wood). I have talked to countless people, including Jack's preschool teacher last year, who lost their house. But what makes me so proud of my fellow-Mississippians, is that they are picking themselves up and moving on. Nobody will tell you that it isn't hard, but it is being done. And that is something that New Orleans doesn't seem to understand, that they just need to pick themselves up and move on and they don't need to rely on the federal government nor President Bush to do that.

Last week, I was talking to my dental hygienist about what she went through. It was really tough two years ago. Her house was one of those empty slabs. They lost everything! Her church was a beautiful old church near the beach that was destroyed beyond repair and just recently was torn down, saving the old steeple, though. Even her place of employment, the dental clinic was destroyed. But she and her husband, two kids, and two dogs lived in a Fema trailer for months until they found a house to rent, which they lived in for almost a year. Only just in the last 6 months, did they get to move back into their newly re-built house. Yes, everybody who was here was changed forever, but they are stronger for it. And I am proud to call myself a Mississippian because of it.

Also, it was one year ago yesterday that Jim, Jack and I left California for good and embarked upon our crazy cross country drive that included two cars, four animals, and one two-year-old. The best decision we ever made!