Me, Mom, and Hurricane Ida

We finally got power on Friday after being out for five days so I’m catching up on emails and messages. I choose to make every experience, especially the hard ones a moment to grow and gain awareness. There were definitely discoveries. I soon learned that people, even ones I consider close, had more judgement than empathy. Without words, you could feel the question “But why didn’t you leave?”.

We all make decisions that we feel works best for us. Our home survived Katrina. Our city said it was a voluntary evacuation if you have levee protection (we do), and even our beloved Bob Breck said “If you survived Katrina, you should be okay”. There wasn’t enough time. Flights were booked, in addition, I didn’t want to take a risk with my ’99 Rav 4. I prepped as much as I could. Stocked on water, food, ice, and butane gas (for our portable cooker). I sealed cracks, charged phones, and power charger. But the only validation I needed was from my mom and she assured me we were going to be okay. She worked at Charity Hospital during Katrina (she was a supervisor at the time and couldn’t leave) , while my sister, her husband at the time, and I evacuated to Birmingham. This is the same woman who was hooked on a ventilator just five years ago, and even when the doctors gave me their doubts, she reassured me she was going to be okay. So I had no reason to doubt her. She has never been wrong. So we waited.

I had never seen winds like that before. And watched as trees in my neighborhood moved with such fierce force and flexibility (they must take yoga on the side). We ate chicken we cooked the night before with rice, and looked out the window in awe. Typically Sundays are reserved for 90 Day Fiance, but this was a bit more suspenseful. We eventually slept. First my mom. Interestingly, she slept like a baby, while I sealed more areas of the house.

We woke up and discovered our carport collapsed on my car leaving it trapped, windows shattered. This structure has always protected it during harsh New Orleans summers, survived Katrina, but with Ida was like “I don’t get paid enough for this”. There’s also roof and fence damage, but nothing we would not be able to fix.

The next four days, we continued to sit in silence, shared childhood memories, and ate well . My mom even managed to make injera and dorowot (“immigrants get the job done”) . I managed to get a company to put tarps on our roof (can’t wait on FEMA). And a few hours after the tarp was laid, it rained. Each day, I’d rake the tree branches, shingles, and talked to my neighbors. Although we all experienced damage, we were grateful “It could always be worse”.

I will say this storm definitely opened my eyes to people who have my back, sending money, calling out numbers, finding helpful sources, offering to drive down from diff states to pick us up, and didn’t need me to ask. I’m not surprised; These were the same folks who were there when my mom was in the hospital. But I even received support from some folks who I wouldn’t even consider as friends. I only hope I can one day return the generosity. You don’t know how hard and exhausting it is to tell people what you need, especially if you’ve been raised to do it yourself.

I know we were one of the lucky ones. Although we had no generator, we didn’t really suffer in the 90 degree heat. Funny, I did purchase battery operated fans from Amazon that were supposed to arrive that Friday before the storm, but they never arrived (Amazon is great until they need to be great). But fortunately I had these hand-held fans I bought for my film crew for one of our outdoor shoots. Thankfully I had two left. It saved us.

My late grandmother, when she lived with us, would frequently bless this house. Our home has provided shelter for family and friends, survived Katrina, and now Ida. The night of the storm I prayed out to her. I also reached out to my great-grandmother, and my father.

It’s Sunday. It’s strange to believe this time last week, we were sitting in our living room, surrounded by candles, and waiting for the wrath of Ida. She did her destruction, but we’re okay.