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I’d never lived anywhere with spirit. Growing up an Air Force brat, most of the places I’d called “home” consisted of people whose actual homes were in different states or even different countries. We were all transplants; our housing was temporary....

My Katrina Days

{see also :: New Orleans is Sending Houston LOVE} My Katrina Days :: An Anniversary Reflection We decided to stay. We had just evacuated for the previous storm, spent hours in traffic, and came home to a few leaves on the...
{How to help Hurricane Harvey Victims} {What It's Like to Be a Hurricane Survivor} From NOLA to Houston, With Love We're just a few days shy of the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and our TVs and social media feeds are again full...
Let’s face it Louisiana, it’s been a tough week.  Scratch that. It’s been a tough month. From police shootings to protests and now watching the floodwaters rise and fall while waiting to see which neighborhood the river will consume next has...

The Toyota Effect

Disclosure :: This post was created in partnership with our sponsor Toyota.  The Toyota Effect When you think of the brand name Toyota, you probably think of cars. But did you know that Toyota has a greater mission? Toyota believes that organizations should...
My dearest children, For the past ten years on August 29th, I have taken this day, the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, to reflect on our Katrina story. Growing up here in New Orleans, you will come to learn that everyone...
To My Little Ones, This weekend marks the 10 year anniversary of a storm that you know nothing about. You know nothing about it because you are too little, and it happened before mommy and daddy even got married. It...

Song of Songs: Katrina

I've written about my connection to music before. Though I was graced with zero musical talent, it makes me whole. Grounds me when I'm anxious, makes me happy when I'm sad, and during those times when I just need...
As Director of Operation Playground for KaBOOM!, I saw a lot in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, but I’ll never forget the first time I saw ‘Play World’ in New Orleans. It was a...
"I'll finish this wedding album Monday," I thought to myself. It was finally Friday, and near the end of the workday. My plans for the weekend were simple: have a relaxing evening with my husband, maybe head to a friend's house, take...
Nine years ago, people across our country asked whether or not New Orleans should be saved. They asked why we couldn't all just move a little further up river? Why we couldn't all just start over in another town?...
On Sunday, August 28th, 2005, instead of celebrating my husband's 30th birthday with our friends and family at a surprise luau, we spent the majority of our day cramped in our truck filled to the brim with photo albums...
I wandered around the streets looking for an internet café. It was 2005, well before smart phones gave us the ability to walk around with information at our fingertips. And, of course, this was the week my laptop had...
We never evacuated in the 22 years I had been alive. Not once. So when I got a phone call at 5:30 AM while I was unlocking the doors to the Starkville, MS coffee shop where I was a...