Welcome to My Bayou

http://www.angelfire.com/la3/judyb/index.html

I ran across this page late last night and really enjoyed it. It's full of fantastic pictures, first-hand accounts, inspiration, and some great links from a lady in Slidell, Louisiana. My mother raised me with a strong sense of kinship with our Louisiana neighbors - 'They have always been there for us even after everyone else went home...' she would say referring to those who came over to help after Hurricane Camille. Nevermind the fact that we share a common culture, heritage, traditions -- ancestors. I love Louisiana.

My best friend of umpteen years has worked in New Orleans for what must be decades now - and had just this spring bought a house on Lake Pontchartrain in Slidell. "Well, it looks like this thing is headed straight for us," he said from his cell phone on the way to Monroe the day before the storm. "Maybe it will turn," I said.
"No, I'm torn," he said, "I don't want it to hit New Orleans and I don't want it to turn either. Because if it turns it means it will hit you." Ah, fateful conversation -- neither of us ever dreamed it would hit us all.

My sister too evacuated from Slidell to a shelter in Baton Rouge. Her apartment was destroyed and she lost whatever wasn't packed in her car for the journey. She's now one of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people -- trying to find something like a normal life.

Warm wishes and fervent prayers to our neighbors in Louisiana tonight.