Christien Louviere

I  wrote this over a two day period at a Starbucks in NYC.

So, it has been 1 year since Katrina ravaged my home town and the coast alongside it. I’ve experienced so much that I can’t believe it’s only been a year.  I remember sitting in our temporary home of Livingston, Texas thinking what the landscape of New Orleans  would look like one year later.  At the time and now, it is nothing as I could have imagined.  I remember thinking, ‘If the national media is this bad right now, then they’ll focus on everything that should’ve been done.’  I was correct in my early assertions. I remember thinking how important it was for the good leaders to step up and for people not to be selfish. 

One year later everyone and their brother is focused on how the situation was botched and things should have been handled.  I’m not going to do that.  I will say that it was an unprecedented situation and it’s ridiculous to treat hindsight like 20/20.  It was a lose-lose situation for anyone that was in a position of leadership.

It’s been an odd year for me and everyone else down south.  Not 2006, but just the last 367 days.  When most think back to 8/29/05, I will think back to 8/27/05.  For some reason, I think about so many odd things the Friday before ’she’ hit New Orleans.

I was set to close on my first home purchase on the 29th. so I was at my insurance agent’s office trying to get binder for my closing.  However, since the non-threatening Katrina was in the Gulf, the company couldn’t issue it.  I remember no one, including myself, made much of a big deal about it.  It was just another part of the weekly summer drill in south LA.  Two minutes later, my agent asked me if I wanted to grab a bite to eat at Ruth’s Chris.  Naturally, I accepted.  On top of being headquartered in New Orleans and being a great place to eat, they are my biggest client.  So we went to eat at the original Ruth’s on N. Broad and Orleans Ave.  I’d never been to the one that rested on the edge of the 9th Ward before.  I was eating in a dark room of power.  The walls had been witness to some of the most powerful politicians in the state and nation for years.  That day was no different.  Anyone who was anyone was eating within 5 feet of me that day.  Everyone was calm and joyful.  Less than 48 hours later, those same people were unnerved and panicked.  The historical restaurant…gone for good.

After lunch, I remember leaving work for the day.  I had made a sales call in Metairie and decided to call it a day around 3.  I was excited about going to see the Saints pre-season game that night.  I figured between the game, hanging out with a friend and my new house it was going to be a sweet 3 days.  In my car on my way back, I thought to myself, ‘Damn, I left my laptop.’  Due to my self-directed weekend projects, I never left it at work.  At some point early on Monday  morning, it was destroyed.  All of my work and I couldn’t have cared less…it just wasn’t that damn important anymore.

I picked up my friend for the Saints game around 6.  Her dad was glued to several cable news channels about Katrina.  Until that point, it had been forecasted to hit FL somewhere.  We, the seasoned veterans that make up New Orleans, paid little attention to it.  We knew the drill.  We really paid him no mind and headed off to have a good time.  We didn’t expect much from the team as it was preseason.  We left around the 3rd quarter to go grab some coffee and just hang out for a few hours.  I got home around 2.  I remember turning on the weather channel from my bed to see the latest.  The path had changed, the strength had increased and New Orleans was now in sight. 

7 hours later I awoke to the local news people urging people to get the hell out of the city.  I saw one woman seemingly fight back tears.  I called my older sister to see if they were leaving with the two kids.  I called my dad, who was in AL, at the time to see what he wanted me to do with my younger sister.  His advice to me was to stick together with my family and work as one.  And so, we took Airline Highway out of the city towards TX…the rest.

I think back to so many situations for me personally that were odd about the weekend.  The little things that I did differently.  Looking back, it seems completely serendipitous.