One year later

I wish I was blogging last year, because I have a hard time remembering everything that happened this past weekend- last year. Sorry- this is long, but I wanted to make sure it was documented.

One of the Craft Night Girls, Susie, was getting married in September and we wanted to have a little bridal shower/bachelorette party for her. We opted for NOLA, because it reduced the number of people that needed to fly and EVERYONE loves NOLA. I hadn't been there in a really long time and so I was anxious to go and have some good food. Lulu and I flew in on a Friday morning. We sat next to a woman that worked for I think Bed, Bath, and Beyond (or maybe Linens and Things). She was going to help in the store because it was move in weekend for all the colleges and the company wanted some extra help, because knew they would be busy. She was from somewhere in Arkansas. I thought about her a lot over the weekend and hoped she was able to get home.

Liv picked Lulu and I up at the airport and took us to her cute little apartment in Uptown. Larry was at work and we were heading to the Aquarium to meet up with my old babysitter Emily (she and her husband moved from TX to LA when he matched at Tulane) and her little boy Nate. We had a wonderful time looking at this amazing place. I have always loved the NOLA aquarium and would go often when we lived there. We made arrangements for Emily to watch Lulu the following night so we could all go have a nice dinner.

Liv and I went to Central Grocery for a muffuletta (I should have bought Lulu her own- she LOVED it) and some Zapps. I wanted to buy boas for Witches Festival, but we decided we would be in the quarter the following evening and I could buy them then. We waited for Larry to get home and headed out to eat at La Crepe Nanou. Delicious. We had to wait for a bit so we walked around the neighborhood. I got mussels as usual and Lulu got a big bowl of whipped cream and fruit. Larry thought it was hysterical (he is a pediatrician) that I was feeding her a big bowl of whipped cream. Needless to say she was covered by the end of the dinner. We went home and went to bed. Marcelle was flying in on the red eye and Liv was going to have to pick her up from the airport at 4:30 am. I think we briefly talked about the weather.

We woke up the next morning and walked to the bakery for breakfast. Larry stayed at home. We came back and saw the news on the TV. They were encouraging people to leave, but it wasn't mandatory. We went to Magazine Street and did a little shopping. Lulu was totally cute and wanted to ride my shoulders. Magazine was really slow for a Saturday and people were boarding up windows and whatnot. We were mildly concerned and Marcelle called to see if she could get an early flight out on Sunday. There was still space, but she wanted to wait and see. We met up with the bride to be and her sister and cousin (that both flew in) and had a delicious lunch at Crabby Jacks. Ahh- the gumbo. It was delicious. The restaurant was closing early, so we made plans to see one another later in the evening. I called Emily to see if she had ever experienced a hurricane, and if not that she might want to evacuate to her parents house in TX. She was so sweet and worried about what I was going to do for a sitter. Too cute. She said that they were going to go as soon as they could pack the car.

We went back to Liv's house and just kind of watched the news. We heard that Delta cancelled all flights in and out of NOLA for all day Sunday and I think most of Saturday. We both called to change our tickets to earlier flights, but everything was sold out. Neither of our flights had been cancelled, so we decided to ride it out and figured we would both be okay. Larry was calling all the residents to make sure they understood that if they were on call Sunday or Monday that they would be staying to ride out the storm and if they left it would be abandonment of patients and they would be in some serious trouble. We talked to Susan and she was driving to Houston to get her sister and cousin out. She was sorry, but there wasn't room for all of us. We told her not to worry about it and went down to Major Video to rent some movies. We called the restaurant and cancelled our reservations. We also went to Liv's work to pick up some books from her classroom. She teaches at a local college and had classes starting on Monday. She was annoyed that she would have to rework her syllabus. She figured classes would probably start on Wednesday or Thursday. We came back and watched the news. Nagin kept telling people to leave that they were very worried about the storm. The contra flow had been in effect since earlier in the day. Traffic was reasonable. He was going to eat dinner with his family- this would be his last briefing.

We called and made a car reservation. Marcelle called both her parents, but they refused to leave. Liv was staying with Larry because she evacuated for Ivan and didn't want to leave him again. They would be at one of the local hospitals. Liv drove us to the airport to get the rental car. We told her we loved her and got in line. We got there about 7:00 and finally got in the car at 10:30 pm. We turned on the radio and heard Nagin. He said he would issue a mandatory, but had to look at the legal implications (if you issue a mandatory you are required to get a percentage of the people out of the city before the storm hits- I think it is 60% or something. They got about 80% out.. don't quote me on the percentages). We called Liv and told her this was her last chance, but she wanted to stay with Larry. We called Marcelle's mom but she wouldn't leave. Her area was flood free for all the other hurricanes, so she wasn't worried. She also had two dogs and her mother with her.

We got on the freeway and drove on the wrong side of the rode for a little while. I have no idea how we made it. I am NOT a night driver and Marcelle had about 3 hours of sleep. But, we pulled into my house around 8:00 the next morning. Not bad when you look at the circumstances. We slept and started watching the news. We got Marcelle's ticket changed and waited for her flight. I have no idea how she made it through the day. We got several text pages from Liv throughout the day. I had a meeting at BR that night. My manager told me I had to come. I cried the entire time.

The next morning I was at work and thought- wow.. How can NOLA be so lucky? They missed it again. But- as everyone else knows... it took over a week for Marcelle to finally get in touch with her mom. We spent the week watching all the major channels to see if we could see her at one of the shelters, I know.. shot in the dark, but she was desperate. Her mom got 8 feet of water in 30 minutes on Monday (the last text Marcelle got was water coming in, moving to second floor). Marcelle found her at a friend's house in Baton Rouge. She had been sending text pages all week, but Marcelle didn't get them. Liv and Larry were air boated out on Friday and boarded a bus bound for me. Larry's mom also evacuated to my area so they were going to stay with her. Larry's mom lost her house and all her photos. She didn't take anything with her when she evacuated. She thought she would be back by Tuesday.

I'm amazed at the things I have seen and the things my friends have been through. Even going back this past weekend (we all joked quite a bit about that.. I wonder if this is why Susie didn't come), it was strange to see the city. It looks the same, but tragically different. I realize how lucky we were and that our weekend adventures aren't even measurable to others. We had a place to go to and life was only slightly altered. I am truly thankful that we were blessed to get a car (although Larry offered us his, so we did have a back up) and that we made it home safely.

I would not be naive enough to say the city is back on its feet. Very little has been done. A lot of people are living in their FEMA trailers trying to repair their houses. Insurance co are refusing to pay or paying a fraction of what the house was actually worth. In several areas the houses are still marked with that terrible X showing that the search and rescue crews had been through the house looking for survivors. So- don't forget about this place. It needs ALL the help it can get.