Having lived most of my life in southeast Louisiana, I have been an evacuee many times. After Hurricane Katrina, I was a refugee. It took some time -- eight years to accept this.
I hadn't been forced to leave my country and my relocation wasn't due to persecution, war, or violence...ok, maybe violence, if you consider what Katrina did to the city of New Orleans and its neighboring parishes. Yet, I still couldn't relate to being a refugee. I was homeless but surely, this was only temporary.
But natural disasters destroy communities, relationships, and connections to familiar places. Disasters like Katrina rip close-knit communities apart. Those who leave wonder how anyone could possibly stay in such a ravaged place. Those who stay wonder how anyone could abandon their home. Either way, life changed for all who have endured this kind of experience.
Destructive catastrophes also take your personal property, some like family photos and videos can never be replaced. Sometimes they take jobs but mostly they take away our false sense of security -- the illusion that we have control over our lives.
It is a myth that working hard and achieving the American Dream of home ownership provides security in later years. Survivors of natural disasters know that everything you worked for and cherish can be taken in one day -- and in that moment your life will never be the same.
Like many young couples, we bought our starter home, a small post WWII house, when our children were young. We purchased our move-up home as our need for space grew along with our kids. Four years before Katrina, we moved into our empty nest, a smaller house on larger property. We were able to pay cash for this one with the proceeds gained from putting a lot of sweat equity into our larger home.
Mortgage free, we were able to travel more. While on vacation, Hurricane Katrina flooded this house to its rooftop. It took two weeks for the water to recede -- then Hurricane Rita put another eight feet of water into our home.
We had insurance but the cost of replacing everything in a rapidly changing and more expensive world was daunting. One major bad decision made under duress (details later) continued the free fall, leading to a nomadic life.
Eight years after Katrina and I'm still grappling with the need to belong -- to have that connection with people and place where I feel at home. Katrina has taken this from so many of us who lived in her path.
So when August 29, 2013, arrived, old wounds were opened. I continued to suffer through September, as I watched Colorado flood. Although land mass and numbers affected were less than the area in Katrina, those areas flooded were just as decimated. Whole communities, such as Lyons, just outside of Boulder, were destroyed. But the depth of this destruction goes deeper than communities. Within communities are one's tribe, those kindred souls connected to us by spirit, friendship, and love of place.
To physically rebuild whole communities is challenging but to be emotionally connected to a place -- to find the sacredness of that locale and find one's tribe within that place is difficult. It takes time to build connections and we have moved three times since our relocation to Colorado.
My art helps me deal with this. During this emotional time, I thought I'd do a couple of light-hearted paintings that were a play on words -- like Empty Nest. I've never had a painting go so wrong, so fast. My muse's sweet face glared back at me like a Zelda Fitzgerald self portrait.
When I analyzed where I had gone wrong, I realized my subconscious saw a different painting altogether. This painting was about my empty nest (no issues with children growing up and moving out) but my empty, bull-dozed home and the people that no longer lived in my community. The painting had to reflect this. So, after darkening the background skies, I was able to recapture my subject's lovely countenance.
As I stood back and looked at my finished painting, I listened to Tom Petty and focused on the many things I do have -- and know that I don't have to live like a refugee.....
to be continued....
