MY KATRINA STORY IN A NUT SHELL:

three years ago tomorrow katrina hit the gulf coast. if some of you are not aware of this i am from pascagoula and still had my mother/father and grandmother mamie there along with tons of friends. so of course i worried, oh did i say that i had a 2 year old and new born here to worry about as well. anyway, my father wasn't going to leave, just like everyone else on the coast. finally my mother got him to agree to go up in the country, where my grandparents home is. they left with just a few things thinking they would return to their home in a couple of days. well as many of you know that didn't happen for alot of people. we lost power here and went to some friends house and by the time we got there and settled in our neighbor called and said we had power. so we left because our friends were having family come up from hattiesburg to ride out the storm. o.k. so the next day when everyone woke up(if they ever went to sleep) in different places to see the damage from the storm, people returned to find mud in houses, houses gone and much, much more. i didn't hear from mom and dad for about three days. it was very nerve racking. when they finally got through they told me that our house was under water the entire storm. it was about 5 to 6 feet deep. thank goodness my parents got out.......... so being the wonderful husband that kyle is, he loaded up his truck with food, ice, water and his dirt bike and took off to check on his family in wiggins and help my parents in pascagoula. why the dirt bike i asked and he said just in case the national guard would not let him through with his truck, he would have gotten on his bike and went anyway he could find to go. i had no contact with anyone down there. it was like everyone had fallen of the face of the earth. the only time kyle or my parents could call is when they got to the highest point on the moss point bridge. again all the while i was here just returning to work, taking care of a new born and a two year old. i felt helpless and after all this time i still think back and say i wish i could have been there to help. but kyle assures me that i did help, i kept it together for our young children.. so while my parents, husband, sister and brother-in-law help start to clean up, my precious, precious grandmother passed away. it wasn't due to the storm she was in the hospital and didn't even really know what was going on, from what i hear she passed away very peacefully with a sweet nurse holding her hand. we finally got to put her to rest in october. my grandmother wouldn't have wanted a big fuss about her so we just had mom/dad/me and my two older sisters. as tears start to swell in my eyes like they do every time this time of year with thoughts of the storm, the horrors everyone went through and the passing of grandmother mamie. i try very hard not to think about what my parents saw walking hand in hand in total silence to find 1206 westwood destroyed by katrina. they have sold the house that i grew up in and live in the country in a farm house as they like to call it. you ask if they have left for this storm. well, yes they have, they went to oxford yesterday for a fun couple of days with my sister, nephew and of course THOSE MIGHT REBELS.................