A little bit of hope from Paula…(copied from yesterday’s comments)

Pam (and everyone else),
PLEASE PLEASE don’t get caught up in what you’re seeing on tv. I went to Metairie with Dave today. Metairie and Kenner have ALREADY STARTED the rebuilding process. I know the ‘city’ and downtown is a completely different story, but I want people to know that there ARE other areas of New Orleans that are already preparing to bounce back. We went down I-10, got off at LaPlace and took Airline all the way in. There were civilians all over, cleaning up, serveying damage and packing up things. We even saw a few stoplights that were flashing. These are the things you DON’T see on tv.. that there are parts of the city that are dry, parts that are already getting down to business. The Huey P was WIDE OPEN with no roadblocks or anything. The outskirts of New Orleans and the city itself are filled with wonderful people, and it saddens me to see what is being portrayed to the rest of the world.
Please don’t give up hope.
Paula

Let’s just hope the rest of the city has this much hope. And remember, Kenner had 100% damage – every single building had water and/or wind damage. (Or so they said.)

Haven’t really mentioned the wedding much, but I think we’ve agreed to just move it to Baton Rouge. I have come to realize that I just don’t care where it is. As long as it happens, who really cares where it is? My very generous Uncle Greg and Aunt Caroline have volunteered (oh okay, maybe I asked) their beautiful and huge home for the reception. We’re going to look for a church for the ceremony, so once we can get that set, we can start making all of the other arrangements.

At the moment, the date will still be November 12, so if you were planning on coming to New Orleans for the wedding, please plan on coming to Baton Rouge instead. It is more important for us than ever to see our friends and family, all in one place. We miss everyone so much.

And the best part is…no guest list stress! (Well, I’m not stressing about it, that’s for sure.)

PS We’re going to have a huge freakin’ party when we all get back to New Orleans, for those who can’t make the wedding.

It’s so weird. All of it. Almost a week has passed. Heck, it has been a week since we came to my mom’s house, just for a few days, we thought. Yeah, right. I’d have brought more clothes had I known. Har har.

I was at Target this evening and behind me in line was an elderly man with his son or grandson. The grand/son went to get him some razors and while we were waiting in line, the man asked me where I was from. I said Algiers and he said he was from Chalmette. Chalmette, in case you don’t know, is gone. I read that 96% of all of the homes are under water. Under a lot of water.

I haven’t cried that much over this stupid hurricane. Only when Polly and Colin left this morning and after I left Target. The man was so sad, so broken. Everything he had was gone. It was just so sad to talk to someone who really has lost everything. I wish George had been in line with me. I wish he could understand that we are so incredibly lucky. We only have to wait and we’ll get to go home again. Mostly likely, our home is okay, and our “stuff” is still there, waiting for us.

Just babbling about the sadness of it all.

My friends are everywhere. Regan has moved to Austin, probably forever. Who knows when we’ll see our friends again? I hope they’ll be able to make it to the wedding. Which, in case anyone is wondering, is most likely still going to take place on November 12 as planned, but probably in Baton Rouge at my Uncle Greg and Aunt Caroline’s new massive house. Thank goodness they just bought it! Ha ha.

Ready to head to northern Virginia. Want to be around normalcy for a little while.

I was going to post this in the comments, but decided to just make a new post.

Well, since we live in Orleans Parish, it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to get in for a while, even though we’re on the west bank. George is itching to get back in, but I refuse to go back until the east bank is secure and dry and safe. Unfortunately, George seems to be more concerned about our stuff than his safety. Let’s hope I can convince him not to go.

Mike – nice try on the Morrissey thing.

Paula – I think Metairie is relatively safe, but I still would strongly discourage him if you can. I just don’t think anything is worth the risk. I think they’re saying Thursday now instead of Monday.

I am most scared of cleaning out our fridge. Har har. And George said he bagged up the trash but didn’t take it out before he left on Saturday. Bleeeggggh. Maggots! Grody. But hey, at least we have maggots to go back to, right?

Our friend Colin made it to Baton Rouge yesterday. He’s a Sheriff’s deputy. The horror he witnessed will make your hair stand on end. I am so so so happy he is here safe and reunited with Polly.

George and I are seriously considering coming up to the DC area for a few weeks. It’s getting really claustrophobic at my mom’s house and just in Baton Rouge in general. Our jobs are secure, and I really want to get George as far from New Orleans as possible. I just don’t want him trying to get in. Sigh.