“I sure hate it for Lake Charles, La. But I’m glad she didn’t come here.”

I do not think the female name needs any introduction. Many who were here actually have never forgotten the name. Because for many of us there is only name spoken on August 29, 2005…..KATRINA. Secretly, I spoke the same thought above. My child-like excitement over another storm was very quickly overcome by my adult memories and realities of what it meant to us who went through with terror and tears.

For only a split second my thoughts had forever buried the physical and mental destruction that only a few hours would create. And the fears and tears that seemed to the rest of the nation and world only took moments to forget. The weather event took only a couple of weeks to die out and now over 15 years to recover. The trauma of the event countinues to live in every raindrop, wind blown tree limb that peppers the yard for eeveryone who lived through it to once again find that tinge of pain that has never gone away.

And for some of us it also seems like a lifetime away. There had not been any life in Albuquerque, Master’s Degrees, two happy and healthy little boys and a marriage to someone I genuinely loved. It was danger on top of danger and that was all. The universe would again see best, where happiness and struggle would be found. Just like now…..the universe is has found what’s best. And through therapy I’ve learned to smile again.

She’s someone who was foreign to me. She’s someone that I’ve fought hard to find again after being lost for many years. She’s one whose name carries power again and no longer is one who can bring fear that manifests itself like a hurricane. She’s one who loves to be loved and gets to experience that in many ways and by many different people who love her back. Her name is DANA.

#thispuzzledlife