Have you ever had to tell your 11 year-old daughter that she can`t go home? Have you ever had to tell your child that nature took everything she ever knew away from her? With a torn heart, I realized this was exactly what I was forced to do. On August 29, 2005, my home became part of the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina, never to be inhabited again. With tears in my eyes and fear for my future in my heart, I began to try to form my plans to survive. As the tears swelled, I realized that I had more to worry about then ever before. I am a single mother, with no help or support coming from anyone. Yet, crying and begging never reaches the goals that one needs to meet to support a child sufficiently. Regardless of the fact, that I had very little money, my health standing to suffer, a vehicle to drive, not quite two sets of clothes per person; I began the journey to where? At that point, I knew nothing of where I was headed. All I knew was that my mother, a 75 year-old cancer patient and my 11 year-old daughter were both dependent on me for their survival. Yet, survival also meant returning my life to making a living. So, the question became for me, where are the opportunities? Going back to New Orleans was not an option, nothing left to go home to, with my home and office totally destroyed. So, the next step was to decide to leave the comforts that I had known for so many years, which was one of the most frightening decisions that I have ever made in my life. Especially, since communications with everybody was cut-off for me for almost two weeks. All I knew at that time was that I did have opportunities available for me in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and friends that I hoped would be there for me if I suddenly arrived in their back doors. So, the drive began with danger, very little food, gas and water available. Yet, somehow I found a way for us to make it through it all. And, with every small achievement of gaining a tank of gas and a little to eat, I began to see that my journey toward Florida was the right thing to do. Somehow, even with gas unavailable within two hundred miles of each open gas station, I was able to keep the vehicle in the direction I was proceeding along with food and water enough for us to survive. I did at times have to offer the majority of the food and water o my daughter and mother, but my goal was in sight, which subsided my hunger and fear. In my heart I knew that my direction was right for all of us, even showing the way to save my life when three large men threatened to attack me for my space in a gas line. Then my phone rang for the first time in two weeks, I have never been so happy to hear a human voice in my entire life. The beginning of the connection to my goal, the call came from one of my dearest friends in Florida saying not to worry about anything but arriving in Ft. Lauderdale. The sweetest words I think I have ever heard causing tears to flow uncontrollably. Then it became clear in my heart that I was not traveling towards opportunities for just myself, I was also seeking the opportunity to help those finding themselves in much the same situation I was in, lost with no home to return to. I was not alone in my search for survival. Since the phone was beginning to work, I began to share my ideas and feelings with those that I knew could help me in my quest for help for all victims. Our lives were continuing no matter what the past had brought us, with so many with much less of a chance for a positive future then I had. The positive response I received made my goal of arriving in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida even more important and easier to obtain. As I crossed the border of Florida I realized my journey had been well worth every blood, sweat and tear that it took to get here. Within six weeks of my arrival I was reminded that there were still good people in the world. I was given the open door into an apartment that I had once dreamed of, with a lake in its backyard and furnishings coming from businesses and friends. Never would I have dreamed that my worst nightmare was actually still to come. I was to suffer the wrath of the largest storm that my part of Florida had felt in over 50 years, Wilma. Nightmares filled my mind and heart as I watched the lake in my backyard become the symbol of the waves of the Ponchartrain that I had left in New Orleans six weeks earlier. I sat paralyzed on my new couch wondering when this home would be taken away. As the winds calmed, I fearfully stepped outside, completely shocked at what I saw. Trees torn from the ground, poles down, but my building (and the others around me) were standing allowing me to know that I was not taken from my home. No electricity, but I had a bed, a home and my new friends were not hurt or taken away from me as my family and friends in New Orleans had been. The next 11 days of no electricity became the hardest but most enlightening days of my life. To my surprise I realized that having lived through losing everything just six weeks earlier had given me the strength to offer comfort to those around me feeling the fright of the remains of Wilma. As I told the horror stories, and smiled as I told a few jokes, smiles showed when tears would have otherwise been a part of their evenings. Not to mention the fact that my heart grew with the knowledge that I truly understood why I must have been forced to go through the nightmares of possibly the worst hurricanes that had ever hit the United States. I was right, it was definitely time for me to offer hope to those that would otherwise give-up. My goal has become to find venues, companies and organizations who can offer me assistance in sharing hope after disasters through relief events, seminars and speaking engagements. If this dream comes true, with your help, then no better birthday present will I have ever been given. My birthday wish, as I blow out my candles this year, is going to be that I am allowed the chance to speak and have as many events as possible to offer hope and assistance to those that suffered sometimes even worse losses then I had. The more smiles I see, the happier I will become. Due to the trauma of losing my home to Katrina, Diabetes may be a part of my future, so the sugar of my birthday cake is going to h ave to be the happiness gained from seeing lost souls become happy and warm with the help of their local communities. I have always been told that smiles are like sugar. Yes, the tears that are running down my cheeks right now are the warmest and happiest that I have ever felt in my life. |
