Katrina's Impact on my Family's Life
2005 Hurricane Season -- Your Thoughts, Messages and Stories Blog
by Special Editorial
Sunday September 25, 2005
Katrina's Impact on my Family's Life
9/9/2005
I sit and type on the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Betsy, I realize that again my family has lost everything, not homes, not belongings, but our way of life. Life as we knew it will forever be changed, from this day forward everything will be before Katrina or after Katrina. I have cried, mourning the loss of my life as it was, and look forward to see how life will become. What have we lost? Below is a list of my family and what we lost. I have 2 sisters and 5 brothers so the list is long.
- Grand Isle - Daddy and Momma, very possible that they can go back to their home, but it does have some damage.
- Chalmette - Kathy, (sister) rented but lost her belongings
- Chalmette - Josh,(nephew) Casandra and children, rented with Kathy, but also lost their belongings
- Grand Isle - Linda, (sister) is working out of the country, but her home sustained severe to massive damage to her home
- Grand Isle - Brandon, (nephew) Miranda and Allison, rented Linda's house, lost all their belongings.
- Grand Isle - Jonathon Frazier (nephew) Rented from Linda, his belongings are in question.
- Grand Isle - Michael, (brother) Wendy and Abigail, their house is next to my parent's, their house totaled.
- Grand Isle - David (brother) lived below my parent's, his home and belongings were washed away.
- Grand Isle - Mark, (brother) Gina and Robert, their home had over five feet of water inside
- Grand Isle - Paul (brother) his home next to my parents is totaled.
- Grand Isle - Jamie (brother) and Tracy have about over five feet of water in their home.
My home, Grand Isle - well was our future, where I planned to grow old with my family. It is still hard to accept what I saw, my home destroyed, my family's, my neighbors and friends, all our homes are gone, damaged or completely destroyed. My husband spent 21 years in the Coast Guard and is now in his 7th as a State Trooper. This home was our future. But I have come to realize that the homes listed above is/were my family's present.
We didn't have homes in New Orleans, Kathy and Josh lived in Chalmette, but we all lived in Grand Isle, a place the media has said faired decently. If this loss is fairly decent, I would hate to see total destruction.
My family survived Besty. I was very young and have very few memories of it, but I remember playing on the slab of our home that blew away for Betsy. My Mother says we will make it through this. She did once and we have no other choice but to believe her. She raised us to have faith and to always believe that you can do and be whatever you wanted. We all want to go back home, and at the end of this nightmare, we will.
Darleen Taylor
Sunday September 25, 2005 | # | comments (0)