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. 
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I had no idea about the house payment thing 
(((Larissa))) But thanks for the post because it’s good to remember all the things we have to be thankful for
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That’s insane. Totally insane!
I’m glad things have improved for you, Larissa, but…geez.
That’s insane.
by raine
on January 22nd, 2007 at 12:02 pm
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Bonnie, thanks! Yeah, the payments suck, but there’s not much we can do. We got a grand total of $3k from insurance (for 100K worth of damages and loss,) so we just have to keep making payments on the house until it’s fixed and sold.
Agreed, Raine! INSANE!!!! Call me crazy, but I’m thinking that hurricane insurance should pay for, oh, hurricane damage???
Bastards. 
by Larissa
on January 22nd, 2007 at 3:24 pm
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Did you hear about those people in MS who sued State Farm and won over State Farm not paying their damage?
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That’s all you got?!
Ok, I’m thinking like Tori now…has anyone gone after these a-holes with good lawyers??
by raine
on January 22nd, 2007 at 4:21 pm
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Tori, I did! That was cool. Too bad we’re not with State Farm…
Yep, Raine, that’s all we got. We had homeowner’s insurance and hurricane insurance, but not flood insurance (we weren’t on a flood plain, and we were 2 miles inland and 22 feet above sea leve with NO water around us in an area that had never in RECORDED HISTORY flooded.)
So when the storm hit, we got nailed with a 31 foot storm surge…which hurricane insurance idiots say is flood, not hurricane damage. Uh-huh. The STORM surge wouldn’t have happened without the HURRICANE pushing it. Grr.
Anyway, neither homeowners nor hurricane insurance will pay. The only money we got was for the roof damage that was clearly caused by winds. Oh, and our auto insurance paid for my husband’s Jeep that was destroyed in the garage.
So annoying. 
by Larissa
on January 22nd, 2007 at 4:49 pm
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My brother got some kind of Federal Grant that covered many of his issues. I’m not certain if he was serious or not (he has a dry sense of humor), but he said it came from the Federal government to cover what the insurance companies didn’t because the flood plain maps hadn’t been updated properly (a Federal responsibility, I believe).
Of course, he’s been able to live in his house since the storm, so his wasn’t as bad as yours, but he did have to get it leveled and several other significant things fixed that showed up several months after the storm.
Not sure if that’s something that might apply to you guys or not.
{{{{hugs}}}}
by Jean
on January 22nd, 2007 at 8:59 pm
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Freaking bureaucracy.
Sux.
by raine
on January 22nd, 2007 at 10:44 pm
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Thanks, Jean…we haven’t heard about any Federal grant, but Mississippi was offering a state grant, which we applied for, but there’s a snag thanks to all the lawsuits against insurance companies. Sigh.
What you said, Raine! LOL
by Larissa
on January 24th, 2007 at 11:00 am
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I’m thinking you need to get together with other folks down there who had your same insurance carrier and sue their butts!
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Larissa here here! and (((larissa)))
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Larissa, it could have a been a Mississippi grant. Now that you mention it, I think he said something about this was how Mississippi chose to distribute at least part of their Federal funding for Katrina relief. If that’s the case, my memory got a little twisted. 
by Jean
on January 25th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
