My family and I evacuated the Sunday before Katrina hit. This consisted of me, my older sister, my parents, my aunt, three dogs and a pet bird. We had reservations in Houston. After being on Highway 90 for eight hours, we decided to take our chances and pull off in Morgan City. My mother was suffering very much from arthritis, and she needed to get some relief.\r\n\r\nThe Holiday Inn in Morgan City had rooms available. The news on Katrina got worse every time we turned on the television. When we learned on Tuesday about the levees breaking in New Orleans, I went numb. The images on television were like looking at someone else\'s nightmare. \r\n\r\nOn a personal level, we were allowed back in Jefferson Parish the following week to assess the damage. I live in a small condo complex in Metairie near West Esplanade. I walked through the gate to find a good part of the roofs from the three buildings crashed in the courtyard and in the swimming pool. The air conditioners that sat on the rooftops were strewn like garbage throughout the wreckage. It would be almost two years before I could return to my cozy home.\r\n\r\nMany had it so much worse than us. Three of my family members had virtually no damage from Katrina, so at least those of us with damage had a place to stay. \r\n\r\nEveryone affected by Katrina was changed forever. The dialog and conversation changed. Everything is \"after Katrina\" and \"before Katrina\" when talking to people from this area. \r\n\r\nA day doesn\'t go by when I don\'t think about Katrina and the awful images. Life hss gotten better for a lot of us. There is a new normal. It made me appreciate even more and dig my feet more firmly in the ground that is New Orleans.\r\n\r\n