Well, tomorrow is the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

I hate this time of year. I really, really hate it. It's funny, because I was pretty okay for the first year after the hurricane, but by the second anniversary, I'd begun to have anxiety. I don't want to talk about it, see pictures of it, or watch TV coverage of it. Might be some delayed PTSD or something…I'm not sure. It took me days to even think of discussing it again on my blog. Even now, my eyes are stinging, my stomach is churning, and my heart is pounding.

For those who don't know, we lost everything in Katrina, including our brand new house. My husband, who is in the Coast Guard, had to live on his ship for a year following the storm, and my son and I had to go to Washington state to live with my parents, since we were homeless. It was a horrible time for us, but ultimately, we recovered. And as much as I hate to deal with Katrina, I do credit the disaster with the reason I got published. I'd hit rock bottom, felt I had nothing to lose, so I started writing without any rules, any restrictions, and basically, just let myself go.

Had Katrina not happened, I might have stayed in the groove I was in, writing contemporary romance that didn't fit my voice. So Katrina sucked, but some good came of it.

I don't think I can really go into it as deeply as I'd like to, so I'll point you to the posts I made immediately following the storm. I'd sent emails to Stephanie, and she posted them for me.

This first one is what I wrote while I was evacuated…I was terrified and wasn't sure exactly the extent of the damage, and I didn't know if my cat, who had been too sick to evacuate with (he was at the vet's,) was still alive.

This second one was written when I learned the extent of the damage and was heading back to Mississippi to start clean-up.

This one was written after I arrived in Ocean Springs and saw just how bad it was…

And this was the first update I made after I got to Washington state and began to chronicle cleanup.

The cleanup posts are still on my blog, and you can do a search for them under the Hurricane Katrina category, but the pictures are no longer up. They were lost during the website re-design. They were pretty incredible pictures, though.

Though we had a long haul that included years of hell dealing with insurance companies and crooked contractors, we finally got our destroyed house rebuilt and sold. Yes, we rebuilt it even though we were no longer living there — we had to…we were still making mortgage payments on the destroyed thing. In order to not loose 100K, we had to rebuild. We still lost money, but at least it wasn't 100K.

I do want to say that the state of Mississippi handled things really well. I have absolutely NO complaints about the state's response, their preparedness, or their ability to handle hurricanes. They had the National Guard, electric companies, and rescue personnel staged outside the hurricane path well before Katrina hit, and they rushed in the second it was over. Money given to the state by the federal government was spent on the people who lost their houses and jobs. I might not want to go back to the gulf coast to live, but if I had to, I wouldn't hesitate to give my thumbs' up to Mississippi.

So anyway, we're recovered, and very, very lucky. There area still a lot of people who haven't been as fortunate, so I figured I can get over my reluctance to deal with the anniversary in order to honor everyone else who was affected and who still feels the damage.

Thank you to everyone who came to my family's aid during that horrible time. Without you, I don't know what we'd have done. Your generosity got us back on our feet, and we'll be forever grateful.

Now, I think I'm going to have a beer and toast the fact that I'm in Wisconsin, where I'd much rather deal with a blizzard than a hurricane!

I'm not sure how to even say this — heck, I can barely type it because my hands are shaking. But…

2 1/2 years ago we lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. Insurance didn't cover anything because although we had hurricane insurance, we didn't have flood insurance (hello…we were two miles inland and 30ft. about sea level,) and go figure, storm surge is considered FLOOD. Doesn't matter that it's a flood that only happens BECAUSE of a hurricane. Hurricane insurance doesn't cover it.

So we were left with an empty shell of a house. Everything inside was a loss. And though we couldn't live in the house, we still had to pay the mortgage. The insurance costs skyrocketed. Had to pay those, too.

A year later, we hired a contractor to start working on the house. To make a short story long, shit happened, and his subcontractors ran off with the money we paid.

Big setback.

But we got a new contractor, and he finished last September, two years after Katrina.

Then the housing market took a dive, and we couldn't sell the house. Still, we had to pay the mortgage, the insurance, AND monthly electrical, water, and sewer bills. All while paying all those things where we're living in Virginia. As you can guess, things have been a little tight.

Today we closed on the house in Mississippi. The 2 1/2 year nightmare is OVER. Katrina is in our rearview mirror, and a huge, huge weight has been lifted.

I want to take this opportunity to once again thank EVERYONE who came to our aid after Katrina. The romance writing community is amazing, and because of YOU, we stayed strong.

Now, I'm off to chill some champagne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been months since I last updated anyone (pretty much including my family) on the hurricane Katrina progress. Well, turns out, THERE IS NO PROGRESS.

Last summer, we hired a contractor to work on our Ocean Springs, MS., house that was destroyed in Katrina. The house was supposed to be finished by the end of August. Didn't happen. Then, it was supposed to be done by the end of November. Nada. Then the end of Feb. Again, nope. In the mean time, we had an offer on the house that was contingent upon the contractor finishing by the end of April. The deal fell through because the contractor couldn't do it.

We were fed all kinds of excuses from shortage of supplies to lost workers to the county being backed up for inspections.

To make a long story short, we were lied to the entire time. We just found out that NOTHING has been done to the house. It looks the same today as it did the day of the hurricane (minus the moldy contents,) nearly two years agao. The contractor has walked away with the money we paid him, and cost us sales, taxes, and mortgage payments. Yes, we're still making payments on a house that can't be lived in.

Fortunately, the guy is bonded, so we're going to file a claim against his insurance company. Our realtor is working on his end to gather evidence and alert the local media, because this guy needs to lose his license. I am SO mad. How many other people has he done this to? What kind of sicko takes advantage of people who lost everything and are trying to scrape their lives back together? We're the lucky ones; we're not living in tents and trailers while we're waiting for the house to be finished. But there are people who are.

ARGH!!!!!

So now we're moving into legalities, which is going to cost us time, money, and probably, mental stability. On top of that, now we have to find a new contractor and start this process all over again.

Sometimes it feels like this nightmare is never going to end. That contractor is SO going in my next demon book. As someone's meal. :mad:

Last night I watched the NFL pregame show before the Saints-Bears game. Then I watched the Bears soundly spank the Saints…but I couldn't get the pregame show off my mind. The show had highlighted a lot of the problems still facing New Orleans, and what sticks in my mind is one woman who is commuting 70 miles every day to work in N.O., because she can't live in her N.O. house. It's gutted, unlivable, and she's still making a mortgage payment 20 months later on a house that is just sitting there. Her situation is the same as hundreds of thousands of other people…including ours.

Thing is, I try not to think about it. We rent a house in Virginia because that's where my husband is stationed now, but we're still making that damned house payment on the house in Mississippi that's a wreck and unlivable. It sucks. But at least we are far enough removed from the situation that we can pretend it isn't happening. At least, we can pretend until the monthly house payment goes out, or until I'm looking for something and remember it was destroyed and lost, or until FEMA/SBA/insurance companies/etc. bug us about something.

I can't think about it, because if I do, I lose it. I never forget though, how fortunate I am in this whole thing…I have awesome friends, family, the writing community, and my husband's permanent job to be thankful for. Last night I was reminded how very lucky we are, because even though things are still bad, so many people have it worse, are still there in the nightmare that Katrina left behind. They can't try and not think about it like I do, because they see it every day.

I. Am. So. Lucky.

Once again, to everyone who has been there for me since that horrible August, thank you.

One year ago today, hurricane Katrina destroyed a lot of lives and property.

My family was among those who got slapped around by Katrina. Pretty hard. We lost everything but what we evacuated with, but the thing is, a year later, it's not the loss that haunts survivors.

I handled the whole thing pretty well for a long time. I mean, it was hard to throw away things that couldn't be replaced — pictures, my son's baby handprints, the things he made in preschool, his goldfish. But eventually, the house was gutted, our things piled in front of the house for garbage trucks to pick up.

Afterward, I was okay. Really. Then, about three months ago, I think the survival mode wore off. I began to have trouble looking at pictures of Katrina damage. I couldn't stomach shows about it.

A couple of days ago, as the anniversary approached, I started feeling a little overly emotional. Yesterday, I lost it. I don't know…a little PTSD? Suddenly, I can't watch the news, can't look at pictures, can't listen to how "well the gulf coast is recovering." Because I haven't recovered, and it has nothing to do with the loss of "stuff."

My friend Shawna called yesterday — she didn't lose anything in Katrina. Not "stuff," anyway. But she went through the hellish evacuations (unless you've done it, you cannot even begin to understand the hell of stressing for a week about a potential hurricane, the planning, the packing, the loading of the vehicle…then driving for 20 hours straight in a car full of kids and pets, stressing about gas that's running out, restaurants that run out of food, and storms from the outer bands that blow vehicles off roads.) She lost friends who had to move away after the hurricane because they lost their homes. She lost the parks, the schools, the places she used to take her kids. So her house might have been intact, but she still lost a lot. And when she called, she was as distraught as I was. This anniversary has messed with us. Hard.

So anyway, I figured I'd update you on where we stand as far as our "stuff." Emotionally, my husband and son are fine. I'm the one who is a mess. :roll:

Thanks to a lot of charity from the writing community, family, and friends, we've replaced many of our things…beds, dishes, clothes. We DID salvage a little from the house, but much of it needs some serious repair and cleaning.

Our house was gutted from the ground to six feet up, in some places more because the walls collapsed from the weight of the water. On top of that, it was looted several times, most recently just a few days ago. People steal stupid crap, like lightbulbs.

We waited forever for a determination from the hurricane insurance company. The grand total awarded from them was $3,000.

FEMA gave us $5,000 for the repair of the house.

That is the grand total of monies received for our losses.

Of course, even if we'd received more, we couldn't have started work on the house any sooner than that we have, anyway. The shortage of contractors and supplies workers has left homeowners in a lurch.

The good news is that we finally have contractors working on our house. They've replaced the electrical wiring, and are supposed to begin work on the drywall this week. If we can get that puppy fixed by fall, we're hoping to either rent it out or sell it–which might have been a problem, except that Keesler AFB is about ready to bring in airmen again. They'll be starting to come in just as our house is finished — assuming our house will be finished by the end of September. Since there is very little available housing in the area, we may be able to rent or sell to the incoming Air Force people.

We won't make a profit, but we'll be able to get out from under the mortgage (right now we're paying rent AND a mortgage.) Everything inside will always be a total loss, but the incredible generosity of the writing community helped soothe the sting. I'm still so very grateful for my friends who put together the Katrina auction in my benefit, and for everyone who contributed, bid, and sent donations. I haven't said thank you for a while, so while I'm suffering from a rare moment of sappiness…

THANK YOU!!!!!!:mrgreen:

And to all those affected by any hurricane, you're in my prayers.

The moving guy is coming today to assess our household goods in order to schedule the packers and loaders. If you have a ton of stuff, they need more time.

We used to need a LOT of time. We had a LOT of stuff. I used to dread not only the packing and loading, but the delivery and unpacking on the other end of the move.

But this time? Not so much.

Oh, packing and loading is going to be a pain, simply because…it just is. Then there's cleaning the house. Major pain. But this time when the movers deliver our household goods to Virginia, unpacking will be a snap, which is good, since, once again, I will be handling that end of the move by myself because Bryan will be back in Mississippi to finish out his assignment there.

Still, I'm pretty excited about this unpacking. Not many boxes!!!!!!! :mrgreen:

Oh, yeah…getting a hurricane enema isn't ALL bad… :razz:

Yay!!!! Our hurricane insurance company has finally settled. Sent us a detailed list of damages, depreciation percentage, and even a check.

How much is the check? Sit down, because man, I'm in the money.

For $200,000 worth of damages, the hurricane insurance company gave us…drumroll please…$3,600. Yep. We're rolling in dough. We can fix almost half the roof for that. :roll:

Hmph. I'm thinking you can guess what I told the insurance company to do with that check… :razz: