Don't talk to strangers

First day my cousin took me around New Orleans,

Actually let me stop here, let me remind you, I am meeting many family members for the first time, I saw a picture of my cousin when he was a teenager, but he is 47 now. So when my cousin came to pick me up, he forgot to mention what vehicle he drives, I am waiting on the corner and this guy drives up ( i had just finished speaking to 'cuz' on the phone) the guy who drives up honks at me and pulls around the corner and stops, so I run to the the truck excitedly and say my cousin's name...the guys shakes his head, but has a creepy smile on his face. I literally had the door open and was about to hop in. So I just closed the door and left.

Awkward.

NO!

...Creepy...

2 seconds later my cousin shows up with his daughter.

So...first day my cousin took me around New Orleans showing me the different neighborhoods, focusing on the ones that were flooded, including his. I got to meet his wife and 3 kids, two were still in high school. All were very open to talking about their 'Katrina experience.' They had evacuated, just left for three days expecting to come back home, they were shocked to find their house in 8 feet of water. Everything was gone. They had to go through moving to different states, staying at different shelters, being turned down from hotels in other states because they were from New Orleans. Finally they ended up in Arkansas and lived there for three years. Yes Conway.

My cousin's daughter told me how unimpressed she was having to change highschools from the city to a small town where learning how to skin and cook a racoon was more important than algebra...but hey, I guess I might want to learn how to eat too when it comes right down to survival.

The only family albums they had now, were scrap books made recently focusing on Katrina, how they came back and just rebuilt their home and staying in a hotel during the process. Now their house is new, they admit it's nicer than their older frame, but some of their neighbors haven't moved back, some friends they haven't heard from in a while are not back in town either. There are several photos dedicated to a renunion of them and a former neighbor they were able to reconnect with, but that is just one. My cousin's high school is being rebuilt so he is going to school in a trailer with half of his former high school population.

The population in New Orleans has been cut in half. Literally, if not more. Everyone I talk to says that it is NOT the same, no matter what the media portrays, no matter what person you meet who is an outsider and raves about the mardi gras they went to and how 'New Orleans is still 'happening' because they went to the mardi gras last summer...there are new people from the ages of 19 - 24 moving in and 'having a blast' living in this city not realising they may be living in a family's home.

And in reality, my cousin and his family are considered some of the lucky ones, they have their health, they have jobs, kids are still in school (except all had to be moved back a grade) one is going to college, they have a new home.

Let me remind you and myself that most folks did not own their homes. If you were renting, the hurricane meant a whole different thing to you.

But of course we all know that others couldn't make it out. The disabled, the elderly, folks in jail, hospitals, nursing homes.

I will cherish their stories along with other people who shared their stories.

It has been so refreshing to be around family, from all over who do not mind sharing their experiences with me, the good and the bad.

I am glad they are not strangers to me anymore.