How We Measure Time . . . Continued

We were devastated by the idea that we had lost everything, but considering the loss of one of our beloved animals, as well as the loss of my Mother and my Grandmother; life and loss was put into perspective for us. We immediately realized that there was much more in life to lose than simple belongings. Don't get me wrong, there were things in our home that we lost that can never be replaced, but at least we were alive and well able to rebuild our lives.

We spent the next couple of weeks in Northeast Alabama completely at the mercy of my family and some very generous complete strangers. Needless to say, you find out very quickly who you can depend on in times of crisis.

Now it was time for some hard decisions to be made. Do we wait and try to go back and rebuild our home in St. Bernard or do we start looking for a new city to relocate to? Where will our family and friends live now? Do we wait on family memebers who lived close to make their decision and then rebuild close to them? This situation gave a whole new meaning to the old adage, "So many questions, so little time." After a couple of days we decided that we had to make our own decisions, we couldn't wait on others, they certainly weren't waiting on us.

You never really think about everything to be considered when you are forced to relocate your life. As we sat reflecting on our options we discovered that there was more to consider than simply the location of our new home. We had to consider our careers as well. You see there are three people involved in the this move which means three careers and three of everything else. Before Katrina we each had our own careers and paths in life. One of us was a personal banker with Whitney Bank in New Orleans, one was an HIV/AIDS counselor with the NO/AIDS Task Force and I owned a successful computer networking and administration company. Questions, Questions and no way to know what to expect or where life would take us. How do we come to decision that will benefit all three of us? Where in the world do you relocate to when the one place you know and love is gone? Who do you turn to for advice when the two people who you trust the most have just passed away?

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW