Cold Spaghetti

CONFIRMED:
— Our home is not flooded.
— Whole Foods (the store a half of a block up from us on Magazine) lost it’s roof.
— Whole Foods “was stripped of all it’s inventory” — we take this as looted.
— Our immediate and closest neighbors evacuated and none were left in the city.

NOT CONFIRMED:
— Any wind or storm damage to our house or others on our street. (ie: do we have a roof?)
— The status of looting on our street.
— Whereabouts of many of my friends at Tulane — Alex, Leigh Anne, Hongyun, and others.
— When residents of Orleans Parish are able to visit their homes to collect belongings and assess damage (other Parishes are announcing these dates/times).
— Whereabouts of Margarita and her family.
— Whereabouts of many friends.

US:
— Strong but deteriorating. It is getting harder to hold back tears. Reality is setting in and we are a bit winded. It is not an issue of “stuff”. We are facing the loss of our community. We love our neighborhood, our neighbors, our home, our careers, and the quality of all of those things in our lives. The past year has been more rich for us that any other and we have relished it.
— We are well aware of how blessed we are. It is difficult to deal with this blessing while considering how we are going to deal with the destruction of our lives and begin to rebuild. We have really built a wonderful life over the past year and we are dealing with its loss.

We are fairly certain of two things:
1. Our house has not flooded.
2. Our house is in an area of heavy looting.

This is starting to get around, so I’m just posting it so at least folks can hear it from me.

I found out Saturday that I’m pregnant. Timing, timing, timing. Baby would be due the first week of May. Exciting, but as you can imagine, not a great time to be fatigued and all that. I’ll try to see a health professional when we get back to Mobile to check things out.

We had intended to call her “Kate” — now we joke that maybe it should be short for “Katrina.” (Raw attempt at humor…)

Based on the information we’re pulling together, we are quite confident that our home has not flooded. That said, we’ve heard that the Whole Foods store, one block up from our house, lost its roof in the storm. There are rumors that this store has been looted — but these are not confirmed. If looting rumors are true, this is very scary — our street is the most direct route between the back of Whole Foods (ie: where the grocery carts are located) and Winn-Dixie, which is in a shopping center along the Mississippi River about 4 blocks down from our house. So, following logic… we are concerned that looters, squatters, and others without the best intentions may be helping themselves to our beloved home.

We are sad, frustrated, and conflicted. What’s the bigger crime, a hundred plus years of institutionalized racism or looting of the few safe places left in the city? It is difficult to think about what may be happening to our home, but within the context that those who may be invading it are the ones who were offered no recourse to leave, whose homes are the most affected by the storm, and who ultimately stand the most to loose. What a tremendous challenge.

We survived the storm in Mobile. Heavy winds, trees down, signs mangled, and the like. But best guess is that the winds did not top more than 70-80 mph (with higher gusts). The big news in Mobile was the surge and the effects it had on the area around Mobile Bay. That oil rig that slammed into the Cochran-Africatown bridge… yeah, we have some intimate knowledge of that debacle, but that story will have to wait.

With the news that power was likely to be out for weeks, and Paul’s precious vacation time slipping away, we decided to set off for Jacksonville, Florida, to the home of my brother and sister-in-law. We left around noon and made the 430 mile trip in about 7 hours. The most interesting part: seeing dozens of convoys heading in the other directions… tree removal crews, search and rescue hauling boats and ATVs, and many, many power vehicles.

About an hour after our warm welcome in Jacksonville, we got the call from Mom. Miracle of miracles… the power is back in Mobile. Paul is anxious to go back and settle back into a routine, so I think we may be truckin’ back tomorrow. To say that Will has been incredible is the world’s biggest understatement. It is impossible to not feel blessed when he is around.

However, being here tonight has allowed us our first exposure to the visual impact of our city. It is one thing to be contemplating the complete loss of property — but to pile on that the loss of neighborhood, community, livelihood, and city… that is overwhelming.

Quick bullets of where we stand:
— Our home sits in some of the highest ground in the city. We do not think we have experienced flooding.
— We have no idea of wind damage. While it is possible that we remained dry in terms of flooding, it is also quite possible we lost all or part of our roof, several windows, or both.
— “Looting” in our neighborhood is a possibility. We live between two major grocery stores, across the street from some upscale, newly built homes. That said, I feel that the little I’ve heard about the New Orleans looting situation has a strong racist undertone that makes me ill, so I’m trying to steer clear of that type of talk at present.
— I still hold my crush for Mayor Nagin and my fondest for Mary Landrieu. Governor Blanco is worthless.
— We do not expect to go back for weeks. Months, maybe? And are, frankly, terrified and overwhelmed.

My deepest thanks to those who have been following the news, trying to contact us, and taking this as seriously as those of us who are living it. It means the world and is what is keeping us going. We are trying to remain upbeat and focusing on how thankful we are.

Please keep your thoughts coming our way. We love seeing the blog comments. Also, you can reach us at coldspaghetti@gmail.com . We anticipate having power and regular phone and internet once we arrive back in Mobile.

It’s 9:47 — the rain is just starting to pick up, but is still not unusual. No lightening, no thunder. Little to no wind. It is very, very humid out — otherwise, it is actually pleasant. About an hour ago I went out and brought in the front door welcome mat… and almost wanted to go for a walk because it was such a nice evening (I actually like humid nights.)

Of course, we aren’t expecting this to last. Current news is that Katrina has actually shifted a bit to the east — a bit better for NOLA, but puts us a little more in the danger zone. We’ve got the hurricane lamps, candles, hand-held battery-run tv/radio, flashlights, and batteries gathered. We’ll fill up bathtubs. The news and weather is on constantly… I am going to try to get Paul to play a game of Scrabble with me. Will and I played fuzz-ball, pinball, and golf all evening. He seems blissfully unaware of any danger, so we must be doing a good job of sending out positive messages.

Some comic relief. Discussing the potential challenges in front of us, I said, “Jeez, with this, we’ll have gone through just about everything challenge a marriage can face, short of one of us dying.” Without missing a beat, Paul said, “You mean you’re having an affair?!” He always knows how to make me laugh.

We will post as we can.

Look down the other side of our street. Only two houses here had closed shutters when we left on Saturday afternoon. (We left at 4pm.) 

Looking down our street before we left on Saturday. At the time this picture was taken, neighbors were closing their shutters — but not leaving. We’ve since learned that everyone (with the exception of the physicians on-call) had left. 

Our house: boarded up before we left. About half of the windows on each side have shutters that are closed. Paul moved shutters to the windows that are the most exposed.  

With heavy hearts, we are bracing for the storm. We think we will be safe here — it’s high ground, and as far west and north we can be and still be in Mobile County. It will definitely be a rough 24 hours and we are expecting power outtages, no water, and are preparing accordingly.

Personally, I am no longer able to stomache the weather news — although I admit the science and mystery of the power of nature periodically draws me back. The thoughts in my head are consuming and sad. There are so many little things that I wish I would have grabbed… two paintings by Paul’s grandmother (we took one, but reasoned the others would be protected.) Two figurines by my grandmother. A few pieces of silver that were Paul’s great-grandmothers. I don’t know how I will forgive myself if those things are lost. Granted, I am so happy that I managed to pack up other things (Paul’s first anniversary present to me, our wedding pictures, some family pictures and two paintings, a porcelain shoe that was my great-grandmother’s.) The things I took were out and about in the house — I was worried that wind coming in a broken window would damage them. Other things I took down from walls and put in drawers or closets. I thought even if we lost part of the roof, I would still be coming back to something and these things would be protected. Now, I am not so sure.

And more than my personal concerns, I cannot stop thinking about the thousands that cannot leave the city. We were shocked that the Major issued a mandatory evacuation. It’s well known in New Orleans that the city would not (we thought ever) issue this type of evacuation — simply because it did not have the infrastructure to help aid in getting out the people who have no means of leaving. It is speculated that the Superdome, now a huge shelter, may not hold up to the winds that will threaten it in a few hours. The possible reality is too terrible for me to seriously consider in this moment.

I thank those who have sent kind words and hope that they will continue. Chances are, we may need to rely heavily on those around us very soon.