We Met Because I Was Displaced :: An Ode to Hurricane Katrina
Twenty years ago you couldn’t tell me I’d be a married, stay at home mom of 6 living in New Orleans today. I had just turned 14 when Katrina hit. Just started my freshman year at Biloxi High. I was on the basketball team and had plans of doing another track season in the fall. At school, we had gotten a second set of books for home so we didn’t have to carry them back and forth. If I remember correctly, we had lockers at the old high school and weren’t at the new Biloxi High School building, reserved for 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.
My mom was working at the Beau Rivage and they actually gave her (and other employees) a hard time about getting off. As Katrina’s landfall grew closer, however, it was made evident that everyone but emergency personnel needed to evacuate. We almost didn’t make it out. My mom, three of my brothers, my aunt, my grandma, and my grandpa all packed up and went up a little further north past Hattiesburg but not as far as Jackson and stayed with family. Riding the storm out there was still scary but nowhere near like the devastation we came back home to. My home in the Back Bay area of Biloxi had been lifted and moved off of its foundation (the slab is still there today) and moved into the backyard … unsalvageable. I remember grabbing what little I could from the rubbish since we packed light when leaving. I was even worried about the school books being ruined. Nothing was left untouched. All the pictures. All the memories. Gone.
While my mom and the other adults tried to pick up the pieces, my brothers and I went to stay with our great uncle and his wife in Tampa Bay. I stayed over there for a year and went to King High School. Fun fact: I ran into some people when I worked at The Yard on Frenchmen (now closed) in 2021 who also went to King High! Small world for sure. When I came back to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, my mom had moved into the apartment complex in Gulfport where my aunt stayed. That meant I had to go to Gulfport High … Biloxi’s rival school.
Although I was reluctant to go at first, I had some great memories at GHS. One that stands out is walking into Mrs. Bellipani’s Spanish I class. This is where being displaced after a devastating, history making hurricane gets fun. THIS is the class where I met my now husband! We still keep the Spanish notebooks we used in a box in our closet and take them out from time to time. He went on to take Spanish II and then two college level Spanish classes. I laugh when I say we still only know the bare basics!
My husband and his family actually stayed directly behind the Sea Bee base and rode out the storm. Living during the immediate days, weeks, and even months after Katrina were similar to the Hunger Games. Whether it was waiting on food and water shipments or just trying to get gas, it felt like every man for himself. But reflecting on 20 years and hearing the stories come out about how this person helped that one, from Texas to Alabama and beyond, I can tell that the human race still has some hope.
As tear-jerking as this remembrance time can be, I am happy to know that without Hurricane Katrina wiping out my home, I wouldn’t have the homegrown coastal kid, Saints loving, New Orleans reppin’ man that also blessed me with six beautiful children. Losing everything materially has shaped me to appreciate the moments and memories we make as a family. That’s what truly matters. And for that, I thank you, Katrina.
