On Gustav

To Family and Friends,

Billy and I were on our yearly visit to family in Maine this month. We usually beat the heat and leave for the hottest part. Unfortunately, it usually means that we get back just after the anniversary of Katrina. We were scheduled to start the drive home Saturday, but we officially flipped our status from vacationers to "evacuaters" and stayed with friends in New Haven and with Billy's dad in NYC.

Billy's boss, who hails from Houma, was a rock and secured our houses for us before he left for Oxford, MS. Lesson learned: prepare for a hurricane in July. Seems like a duh, but we just didn't do it. We purchased a new home after Katrina, in part to underscore our loyalty to the city and in part to be able to live in a place that fit our work and living needs. The market plummeted and we decided to hold onto our first home on Carondelet in order to maintain financially. But now we are worried about two properties and have twice the work to batten down...but worrying about material objects is silly in the grand scheme of things.

I have friends who stayed behind. I think they figured if they rode out Katrina, they will be fine.

We are watching the news and I am checking emails and staring at this excellent website.

Seeing that the storm is not that strong is not that comforting to me as I will remain jumpy due to Katrina shell shock resulting from the rude awakening after the deceptive lull that came after that storm before the flooding. The reporting on the industrial canal is freaking me out.

That is where I stand now. I cannot decide if I will post describing the emotional post-traumatic responses I experienced as early as Tuesday. It wasn't pretty.