Post K + 2

Sigh.

Hard to believe its 2 years since 'The Thing' (to quote Chris Rose). But it IS really hard to believe its been 2 years. 2 years ago tonight I was hunkering down at HMFranklinton, helping them to get ready for Katrina. I was bunked on the floor of the therapy office, with my laptop and my radio. I was still in that pre-K delusional state where I told myself, "we are 100 miles inland from where the storm will make landfall, it will weaken significantly by the time it reaches Franklinton". Boy was I wrong. Sigh.

I'm pretty wound up tonight. No big surprise there. Last year I was wound up for days, even weeks, before the anniversary. I told a friend tonight that I guess I can live with a couple days of anxiety. NOT being in NOLA or even LA is making a HUGE difference I think. Also, not working in the place I survived the storm makes a HUGE difference too. Of course my fabulous trip to Hawaii last week has to be helping as well.

When I was home in NOLA in July, I went riding around to see what had changed and what had stayed the same. It was a completely depressing ride. I took a few pics with my cell phone camera. You can see them here if you are interested. They are from the lower 9th ward, Arabi, and Chalmette; many of them places very familiar to me when I was growing up, such as my old church, the bowling alley, the park, neighborhoods and streets, as well as our old house and my grandmothers house I lived in when I was a teacher. I know its not all bad, there are some good changes happening, but it is still visually overwhelming for me, and I wont be going back 'Katrina sightseeing' again for a while.

I do have to say though, that in my travels, here in the DC area, anytime I tell someone I am from New Orleans, their face changes and they ask how things are, if they are getting back to normal, and what will it take to get things back to normal. I found this when I was in Hawaii too. So the world has not forgotten about us completely, though they do not understand why things are still so difficult for so many (of course many of us probably wonder the same thing).

Last Friday night (8/24/07), I was flipping through the channels and came across a special on the weather channel marking the 15th anniversary of Andrew in south Florida. I kept on flipping, but wondered what things will be like for us and for NOLA and the gulf coast in 15years.

I will spend the day at work, at my little nursing home north of DC. It will be a positive distraction for me, as well as a reminder of the huge changes I have been making in my life. I will be thinking of my family and friends that will also be living through this K+2 day. And I will say a prayer for all of us and our hometowns as we/they struggle on this road to recovery.