Home Sweet Home

I’ve lived in Grand Rapids my whole life, though I’ve traveled around the world. I’ve been everywhere from Fiji to Luxembourg. I’ve loved the places I’ve gone but never did I want to live in any of them. And I was never able to leave G.R. for more than 2 months at a time. I shortened trips and cancelled plans due to homesickness, and finally accepted that this would always be home and I would never be able to leave.

Then I met Jeni and Tammy on my trips to New Orleans. They live in Raceland, about an hour away, which was a safe place to come home at night when N.O. was uninhabitable. I’ve spent so much time with them that the standing joke is: We invited Amy to stay, but we didn’t mean forever!!

Leaving there sucks, because it has become my 2nd home. When I hugged Tammy goodbye, she didn’t even say goodbye. She said, “When you coming back?” I told her next week, which sounded good to both of us. I spent last Thanksgiving and this New Year’s with them.

I know New Orleans and the entire St. Bernard Parish better than most lifelong residents. I know which areas are up and running, and which are untouched. I know where people are coming back to, and which areas are still abandoned. I know the personal stories of more people there than I do here. I know the demolition schedule, the policy meetings and the rebuilding plans. I don’t need maps and I can give anyone directions to anyplace in the area they want to go. I can tell you the best place to get a haircut and who serves the best gumbo.

Being there is stressful, because of the current state of the animals and the situation. So much is going on that it’s hard to stay one step ahead of the DNR, who is poisoning standing water to prevent westnile and thereby making the water unsafe for animals, and the demo crews who don’t have time or interest in making sure the animals are out ( you can’t see under these houses anyhow).

But it’s HOME, in a way I never thought anyplace else could be………………..