My House on the Island\r\n\r\n\r\n I have lived in Coin Du Lestin Estates, in Slidell, LA for eighteen years of my life. Living on this natural island, which housed about twenty-four residencies, was the perfect life for any child. The house itself looks like something that jumped out of a \"cheesy\" 70\'s television show. However, the property has always been a tropical oasis for birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish. The dark mucky bayou sits still in the back yard, and the trees make each resident have their own natural boundary from the next. The soil is fertile and the flora abundant. My dad, an owner of an irrigation/landscaping business, sees to it that our yard is lush. Not only did he decorate our yard with many beautiful plants but he also used his irrigation supplies to create a river. The river\'s water supply comes from the bayou through irrigation pipes and flows back to its natural body. The house stands two-stories high with a carport, made from a balcony on the second floor. The inside has never been much to write home about, just an average old house. There are two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living room downstairs. Upstairs there are three bedrooms and two bathrooms. \r\n Then in August 2005 Katrina hit and my oasis on the island returned to its previous state of marshlands. My house took on seven and a half feet of water, two feet of marsh grass, and a foot of disgusting bayou \"sludge\". When we returned in October of 2005, after having been in a hotel in Tennessee, we lived in our front yard in a trailer we had bought up north. We couldn\'t wait for FEMA to bring us a trailer because it was my senior year in high school and I needed to get back. So until March 2007 the little box held three people, two large dogs, and three cats. The destruction around the entire metro area was horrible. Everywhere you went you were reminded of the disaster. \r\n Now my house is partially back to normal, normal enough to live in that is. Our backyard is slowly coming back, but we lost all of our natural boundaries. Our wildlife is abundant, but lacks in comparison to before. Katrina took part of the beauty of our oasis away, but we have taken most of it back. We will one day be back to a normal life but there is still much to accomplish. I have faith that one day we will all accomplish our Post Katrina goals.\r\n