I would like to use this space to thank the people of San Antonio for their kindness and generosity. Before the storm hit, my boyfriend, my dog and one of my tenants evacuated to Houston. My tenant, (who is also now a good friend) did not have a car to evacuate and almost stayed. Thank goodness he gave into our begging and pleading because his apartment sustained six feet of water, and from what we heard, it smelled of sewerage, and there was no one came to evacuate peole for days) Across the street, the spray paint showing that one person died is still on the house. Once we got to our hotel in Houston, we were glued to the T.V. for the next two days. We did not know what to do or how anyone fared through the storm and the levee breaches. It was immpossible to get through to anyone, thanks sprint! Then our hotel manager informs us that we had to leave because someone else has made reservations for our room! After much arguing, we packed up and headed west. I had an aunt and uncle that evacuted to San Antonio and they were trying to get us a room there. Keep in mind that cell phone service was still not working, so we had no idea if we would get a room or not, we just drove. Then my dog got sick. She wasn\'t eating or drinking water and I could tell she was dehydrated. On top of that, we were totally broke. My boyfriend and I had just spent every penny we saved on a cute little tri-plex in the city. Our credit card was maxed out, and we were not with any family that could help us. We had scraped together change and dollar bills to pay for the gas to get to San Antonio. How was I going to pay for a vet? When we got to San Antonio and we met up with my aunt the first thing I asked her was money for a vet. She gave us a good bit, but we ended up not even needing it. When we got to vet, everyone there was so nice and sympathetic to our problems. They took my dog for the whole night, put her on an i.v. ran several tests, and even updated her shots. They gave us dog food, medicine, a new collar and a leash. All this and they did not charge us. They even found a hotel room for us and gave us a wealth of information about the city, like where the library was so we could e-mail our loved ones. \r\n So while we waited for days in our hotel room for information on our city, and worrying about how we were going to pay for it all, my aunt called and said her and my uncle were going to stay in San Antonio and get jobs and buy a house. I was shocked. What about home? There would be so much work to do once they let us back in, why would you want to stay here? New Orleans is finished they said. Sure enough, the next day they had jobs at the Baptist Hospital. San Anotonio was very generous in empolying evacuees, they even offered my boyfriend a job. No thanks we said, any day now we should be returning home to New Orleans to start rebuilding our house. Some time after that Red cross announced that they would pay for all hotel rooms that were housing evacuees. So at least we had a little more peace of mind. Our San Antonio trip ended up lasting until October. We even started to ask ourselves why don’t we just stay here. \r\n I don’t remember exactly when, but during the first three weeks after the storm we snuck into the city to try and grab any items we could. A lot of our stuff, especially clothes, were still at the apartment in Metairie where we were staying when we had bought our house. We had just never finished moving. We drove thirteen hours (thanks to traffic) to discover that apartment had flooded and was covered in nasty mold that was now dripping from the ceiling. Thanks Katrina. Since there was no place to stay, we drove right back to San Antonio, empty handed, and wearing the same damn clothes we had evacuated with. If there is one thing that changed me after the hurricane, its my choice in clothes. I still haven’t bought anything nice, so its all jeans and t-shirts. Who has the time or patience to replace your wardrobe? Not that there is a reason to dress up any more. All our friends and family have moved away. But since this week starts the new hurrican season for 2006, guess where we will go when we evacuate? To our new friends in San Antonio. Once again, thanks San Antonio!