Pre K or Post K ? Let's just move on.

I realize that most people have heard this line before, "it's all over but the crying." You know it and I know it. Since last year around this team our world has changed dramatically for some of us while others have just gone on living as if nothing ever happened. History is what my hometown prides itself on, and now has to learn how to adjust from.

I along with a few thousand others were one of the many displaced members of Gulf Coast due to the hurricane. I don't have to mention what one, you know what one I'm talking about. Let's just say it threw our world into chaos. First, we thought we got sparred the brunt of the storm. Then, we find out the levees have broken. Next it seems that most of my hometowm was under water with thousands needing to be rescued as civil unrest took place. I remember watching this take place so vividly from the bedroom/living room/dining room of our Memphis hotel room. My wife and I starring incessantly as the video images burned our retinas and my cellphone would bring to life the many struggles that faced my city - no communication with the ones I loved. It was difficult. It was a mess. There's not much else to describe that feeling other than hopelessness. There was no telling what we were going to do.

Our hotel room was booked for two nights. I extended it for a couple more before finding out that they were kicking us all out due to a previous booking with American Idol contestants coming into town. Great. So while I try to figure out if my life back home is over, I've got to figure out whether I can stay in the hotel or another one (not going to happen) or pack up and drive somewhere else. Luckily my wife put enough pressure on the hotel and manager to get radio and t.v. crews to hear our story and cancel the American Idol bookings. We were sparred our rooms for another few nights, but at what expense. Do we stay here for another week racking up a huge bill we can't afford or do we try to go back home. Going back home wasn't an option. Our city was closed and under seige not too mention the roads back home were scattered with debris and gas stations were out of gas. So we did what most others would do in this circumstance; we moved on. We drove out to Phoenix after almost a week in the hotel to stay with relatives. In which my brothers, who were just outside of New Orleans, joined us along for the trip. I don't think I was ever so relieved to see my brothers in my entire life then the night they pulled into a hotel parking lot in Amarillo.

My wife and I spent the next two weeks trying to figure out our jobs, house, bills, and lives. It's not an easy task to consider when all you have is gone within a flash of a hurricane squall. After it was all said and done my family was safe, but our lives in New Orleans was over. We ended up being better off than some people who lost loved ones and everything they owned. I can only say that this year has been hard for all those who have managed to live elsewhere or return back home. There is no more blame to go around because there is nothing we can do about what happened? What's next is another chapter in our lives that provides us something better for tomorrow, hope. The one thing that hits me everytime I think of it is the moment when I was driving out of New Orleans with the rain pounding on my windshield and the wind rocking my car back and forth; the rain will come and go,and yet life goes on.