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While the rest of our team spent most of their day in Vermilion Parish on Wednesday, I spent a good portion of mine in Terrebonne Parish. I was working my way down Highway 315 talking to the oyster, shrimp and crab fisherman who live along the bayou in preparation for Thursday’s story.
I came upon a couple - a retired fisherman and his wife - who were cleaning their front yard. We chatted for a few minutes. It was a fairly normal conversation, at least as normal as any conversation between a Midwestern kid from the suburbs and two Cajuns whose home sits on stilts can possibly be. They hadn’t lost much, but then the woman informed me that their daughter…
"…she lost everything."
And there those three words were again. I’ve heard them so many times since Katrina, but they still hit me square in the gut. I suppose everything means different things to different people. But it’s still a nearly impossible concept to get your arms around. Everything.
I’ll never get over the routine way in which so many people break this news to you: "Oh my neighbor, he lost everything" or "We did OK, but my boss, she lost everything." It’s not routine in a cold or heartless way. There’s just a disconnect between the emotion behind the statement and the statement itself. It's almost like listening to a friend tell a funny story you know they've told a thousand times before. You know it's funny, but you also know that your friend just doesn't have the heart to give it the delivery it deserves.
At least hearing it hasn’t become routine. Hopefully it never will.
Read more from After the Storm: The Long Road Back, Mark Hudspeth
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Lost everything? There's a fellow named George Graves (now living in Franklinton,LA) , a decorated Vietnam vet, who lost everything. His wife, Donna? She lost a second home (which they couldn't afford except that it was rented out for the amount of the mortgage). Her mom? She lost her home. George's recycling business in Waveland, MS? It tooks a serious hit when, among other things, he lost the vans that he used to transport his employees. Sheesh! I couldn't find the man for over a month after the storm because he was living in a campground. Don't ask Donna how that went! You simply wouldn't believe how events unfolded after the storm. So ask him; he has quite a story.
Butler Perkins, Ellicott City, Md. (Sent Nov 3, 2005 1:01:21 PM)
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