One Year Ago Today

[dreamflower]

One year ago today, at 5AM CDST, I sat down to make an update to my LJ, to let everyone know I was still all right. Just as I got ready to post, the power went down.

That was the last almost anyone heard from me for 20 days. A small handful of people were able to reach me by phone, once that became available again.

I think that most people on my flist have seen these. But a few people have friended me since, and might be interested:

My Katrina Diary
http://dreamflower02.livejournal.com/77507.html#cutid1


Katrina Pictures
http://dreamflower02.livejournal.com/104916.html


Hobbit Aid
http://dreamflower02.livejournal.com/84361.html

Where are we now, a year later? The DH and I are doing fairly well. But the area is still devastated. Thousands of people still are living in FEMA trailers or can’t come home yet from where they were evacuated to. In spite of daily massive efforts, there are still mountains of debris.

But things are slowly getting--well, not back to normal--but as close to normal as they can. One of the newspaper editorials talked about a “new normal”. A new normal--the Coast without so much that had given it its unique character as a region. So much beauty and history lost.

And so many people who will *never* again have what they once had. They put a brave face on things, and much like hobbits they speak lightly of the unspeakable. But the hurt and the grief are there nonetheless.

I count myself among the luckiest--my home still had a roof and all its walls, and everyone in my family was alive and well, and with enough time and money, things will once more be ordinary for me.

Except, I won’t ever take any of it for granted again.

Comments

[lil-banik-slave.livejournal.com]

Was it really a year ago. Wow!

*hugs*

[dreamflower]

Yes, it was! (((hugs back)))

[shirebound]

I can't believe it's been a year already. We were all huddled around our computers, waiting for news about those of you caught up in the storm.

*hugs you for being wonderful and brave and resilient*

[dreamflower]

*blushes at the nice things you said*hugs back*

I think one of the things I really regret was how much I *scared* everybody!

[lily-the-hobbit.livejournal.com]

I can't believe it's been a year since.

*hugs you tight*

[dreamflower]

It has.

*hugs back*

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

Hard to believe it's been a year. I spent the weekend before it hit y'all camped out at the hospital in Naples - 'cause it was coming across South Florida and my only transportation to and from the hospital was a bicycle.

*shudders*

*hugs you*

[dreamflower]

Well, you are well out of it now, dear! *shudders with you*hugs back*

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it! I was watching news footage of TS Ernesto dumping rain on Ft. Lauderdale. *shakes head* Am I glad to be out of South Florida, yes I am...

[mumstheword54.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

You have my deepest admiration, Dreamflower!

*big, snuggly hugs*

[dreamflower]

*blushes* Thank you!

*snuggles back*

[slightlytookish]

Wow, a year already. We were so worried about you!

[dreamflower]

I know you were! It was dreadful not to be able to tell anyone I was all right!

[kimbys-place.livejournal.com]

I remember how worried and scared I was for you, and a couple other friends I have down that way. You all have done so much to rebuild after a terrible tragedy, and I know what you mean about never taking it for granted again.
(((hugs)))

[dreamflower]

We live in a perilous area--but then there are perils everywhere these days!

Life is a lot shorter than we think it is, and the unexpected can happen at any time.

(((hugs back)))

[elandulin.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this Anniversary Package; I was not on the Flist last year (at least, I never saw these things) so I am grateful to be able to see them now. The pictures are amazing; is any of the coastline revived yet? I really loved the story; what a great way to put so many emotions and experiences to work in a healthy fashion. The Diary was fascinating; what an important document it is! And how startled I am, and pleased, to know that my chapter provided a little bit of distraction and comfort--that's very nice. :) So glad things are better now, but you know, they're not good enough, and I hope this year brings a concerted government effort to do right by the Gulf Coast.

I think I finally get the concept of what it is to "speak lightly of the unspeakable." It just needed the right example, and this is it. Take care--

[dreamflower]

I'm glad I posted them, then.

Here's another link to some more pics I took a few weeks later:
http://dreamflower02.livejournal.com/117415.html

Things are gradually getting cleaned up. Revived may take a lot longer, though we now have a handful of the casinos open once more.

That chapter of your story was wonderful--it really was! I was so glad you posted, and so glad GW took the time to print it out and send it to me.

Well--yes, that's pretty much it in a nutshell.

[elasg.livejournal.com]

Well, we count ourselves lucky that you were OK!

I still haven't heard much from my cousins in Fairhope - other than that they are still living. I shudder to think what the place looks like now.

[dreamflower]

Isn't Fairhope over near Dauphin Island? If so, you are probably right to worry over what it looks like.

[garnet-took.livejournal.com]

I was talking to Pippinfan1 on Sunday, and we got to talking about you and how we followed what was happening leading up to the storm through your posts. I remember that it hit me that this was going to be really bad when you posted all the emergancy information. You'd not done that for any storm since I'd been reading your lj. I sat there and cried and prayed.

I was so relieved when we got word you were all right, and that your house was still there.

I truly hope the next twelve months bring a lot more progress in recovery for the area. I don't think people realize just what a treasure we lost when we lost the Gulf Coast.

I'm going to go back and reread what you wrote a year ago so that I don't forget.

GT.

[dreamflower]

Oh man! I am so sorry for how much I worried y'all! But I would bet your prayers helped--all of your prayers. I've no other answer for why none of our trees fell *on* the house!

We did lose a treasure--so much beauty and history, just gone with the wind and the water.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year already. It's so easy for those of us who live far away from the devastation to think it's all over and done with, everything tidied up or at least swept under the rug, and it's good to be reminded that this is still an ongoing nightmare for many people.

[dreamflower]

Well, you see, sweeping under the rug is not an option: it would have to be a mightly big rug, and it would leave lumps under it the size of small mountains!

"An ongoing nightmare" is right! My sister-in-law is still in a FEMA trailer, as is my friend Lady E. And a lot of people have yet to come back--if ever--from where they evacuated to. Housing is in short supply, and prices are sky-high.

[isil-elensar.livejournal.com]

I remember going to several SCA websites, and finding out that there were folks out there trying to get in touch with those who were 'lost' or 'temporarily unavailable'... basically forming a net to find folks. I also remember passing the word on to them when Hobbit Aid found you first. :-)

It's hard to believe it's been a year already. Sometimes I think it happened only a month or so ago, and sometimes I think it happened years ago. Ya know?

Anyhow... *hugs* :-)

[dreamflower]

Yes, there was a big search on, on the Meridian list, I know. One of our former members Lady J. who had moved out of the area the year before, and whose parents and sister still lived down here, spent hours and hours on the phone and computer, trying to track everyone down--and she managed, eventually, to compile a list of everybody's location. I am still so thankful that all of our Barony made it through the storm safely.

(((hugs back)))

[melilot-hill.livejournal.com]

*hugs*
I read some articles about it in the paper, how it's a year later and that so much still needs to be done. It really shows you the force of nature, It takes years to get close to a situation that was destroyed in a matter of mere hours.

[dreamflower]

Yes, so very much indeed! It's going to take many years to fix things back.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Thank you for linking to these. I'd never read your diary or seen your pictures. My heart goes out to all of you who suffered in that storm, and I cannot adequately express my admiration for your courage and strength.

[dreamflower]

I hope you didn't find the details about food and ice and laundry too boring.

There's some more pictures I put up a bit later:
http://dreamflower02.livejournal.com/117415.html

I am not sure about "courage" and "strength". I made the foolish decision to ride out the storm, so I thought I should live with the consequences without whining *too* much...

[celandine-g.livejournal.com]

I have been listening all day to the news about the first anniversary of Katrina and it is so infuriating how little has been done. My heart just breaks at the incompetence of government at every level and the finger pointing of every elected official who has been interviewed.

But it is always wonderful to hear from you and to get an idea of what is really going on and the feelings of someone who lived through it and who experiences the aftermath every single day. I will never forget that time and all the worry we had for the "hobbit people" who were affected and their families.

But through it all, as you have said, there is a core group of determined people who will not give up and who will rebuild their world in some way that is acceptable. Cheers to them and to all of you who have been through so much.

I only hope that the government can delegate more to the private sector who can get something done and that our money can be diverted from waging war to rebuilding the Katrina-damaged southland.

Thanks again for your updates, memories, and your positive thoughts. It's so important that we all are kept aware of what is really happening. And I wish you and all your neighbors the very best in your continuing efforts to re-establish normalcy. (((hugs!)))

:)

[dreamflower]

I intend to do my part to make sure we are not forgotten down here. People tend to want to get on with things--leave yesterday's news behind.

But for us, it's not old news yet--won't be until people are back in real homes and not FEMA trailers, and all the wreckage and debris is gone.

Thank YOU for your caring and concern!

[songspinner9.livejournal.com]

You know, I was thinking of you last night when I saw a few seconds of retrospective on CNN. Your photos and posts turned out to be a vital link between the kids in my class and what was going on out there. It made it real to them, (those who didn't have folk living in your direction) in a way that the news just couldn't. They were all fundraising frantically for the Red Cross, but it was sort of distant. Thank you so much for showing us all.

Hard to believe it was a year ago, waiting to hear from so many people, you included. I still get so frustrated thinking about what didn't happen when it needed to happen, and what still hasn't. I live in Santa Cruz, CA, the site of the Loma Prieta Quake in _1989_, and just this weekend, the final, huge hole in the ground where a building used to be downtown was filled and construction began. The slowness doesn't even amaze me anymore.

Blessings to you and yours.

[dreamflower]

I remember that. I am glad that anything I did helped to make things real for your students, and I am very proud of them and grateful, for their efforts.

Yes, someone down here responded to criticism from someone up in New York about how we haven't done more, by saying "Well, it's been five years and YOU still have a big hole in the ground." This was so much worse, as far as damage goes.

[gryffinjack.livejournal.com]

Due to the tropical storm that decided to make a pest of itself today and tomorrow, we have not really heard anything about the anniversary of Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast.

Thank you so much for reminding us how devastating storms can be, not just on the date they occur, but for days and years after. Even after Katrina and Wilma last year, most people did not bother to put up hurricane shutters for today's storm, since its projection was downgraded to "only" being a tropical storm. People who still had blue tarps on from Katrina or Wilma last year were told to evacuate.

In the end, the storm fizzled basically into any old rainy day, and so I fear that people will grow complacent with future storms. That's why it is so important to do as you have and remind us all of the devastation and loss that these storms can bring. God bless you, your family, and all of the people touched by Katrina, both the victims and those who gave assistance.

(((Hugs)))

[dreamflower]

I'm just glad Ernie fizzled out! I hope and pray that's what happens to all the storms this year!

(((((((hugs back)))))))))))

I'm just glad all y'all in FL will be okay this time!

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

I still can't imagine how it feels to be in the middle of such a terrifying situation.

*hugs you*

[dreamflower]

(((((((hugs back))))))))))))

[gentlehobbit.livejournal.com]

I was one who did not know you back then, although I recognized your name from around the hobbit community. Thank you very much for making this post and pointing us to your diary and the pictures.

I think that this is one of the gifts that all of us receive from being part of such an international web of hobbity-folk. We hear the stories that are written by people we know, and thus what previously was news on T.V. becomes something immediate, personal, and real. When you put up your diary, we can begin to understand what it was like for *you*. The world is too big for us to take everything in -- all the disasters, all the wars, the terrible things that happen to other people. We know they are terrible things. Both our intellect and our imaginations can tell us that. But when someone we know can be the interpreter so-to-speak -- the one who was there, the link -- it is all brought into meaningful, immediate focus, and we truly begin to see what it would have been like.

Does this make sense, or am I sounding terribly pompously verbose?

At anyrate, thank you for telling your story... telling me where to find your story. I am so glad that you came through it all, and that your friends who lost everything still kept their lives. I hope that they are continuing to do well in spirit and in rebuilding their lives.

*hugs you*

[lilybaggins.livejournal.com]

A year later... and it's still tough to believe something natural of that magnitude ever happened here. It seems like those things should be relegated to previous decades, like the great Galveston hurricane of 1900. It seems unreal.

I'm so glad you and your family came through it fine---but changed, I'm sure. *hugs*

[periantari.livejournal.com]

I remember last year when we were all so worried about you. ((((((you)))))
So glad you and your husband pulled through. ♥

[elendiari22.livejournal.com]

I am still so thankful that you survived! I remember I was so scared in those days after the hurricane, when no one had any idea if you were okay, or where you'd ended up. I'm glad things are returning to normal for you now, too.

*hugs tight*

Wow.

[galadriel90.livejournal.com]

Hi, Dreamflower. (It's Galadriel from SoA, finally got a LJ! and now I'm trying to learn my way around here and find people I know.) I just read your Katrina diary and the entry with the link to it. When all this was happening, it didn't really seem real to me. In NC, we weren't really affected much. Oh, of course it was all anybody talked about, and I couldn't watch the news without crying at one point, but to read an account like yours makes me look at it in a whole different way. You and your family and friends were really brave, and it's wonderful that you took down these daily events. Even while catastrophes are devastating, they shouldn't be forgotten. Praise God that things are beginning to return to normal, or as normal as they'll ever be. The quote you put on your purse is perfect, and in the context it was used, made me cry.
God bless,
Galadriel

Re: Wow.

[dreamflower]

Hello, Galadriel! How lovely to see you here--welcome to LJ land. We are a very friendly bunch in this particular little corner of hobbit fandom. I will have to put you on my friend's list--feel free to friend me as well.

I am very glad that this helped to make things a bit more "real" for you. It was something *I* needed to do at the time to keep myself from going crazy, and to make things seem real to *me* even though I was in the middle of it.

I'm not sure how brave I was. I made the foolish decision to remain in spite of warnings, so I really thought I didn't have any excuse to complain afterwards--well, not much, anyway!

(((((hugs)))))