It is hard to dredge back through all the memories and emotions. I live in St.Tammany parish. I am very fortunate that my fiancée insisted on buying north of the I-12. We live right of the interstate, too. The weekend the storm hit I think we were all in denial and pretty much just kept right on going as if it were going to make that last second jump. My daughters (ages 8& 11) had gone to Jackson, Ms. on Friday with my mother. They were going to celebrate my nephew\'s 13th birthday at a water park. I was supposed to pick them up on Saturday evening. My fiancée and I both worked, he at Tulane Medical center and I ran my business doing parties for kids (I have a mobile animal/bear stuffing company). I had one in Bogalusa that morning. \r\n My first inclination that people were losing it was when I stopped to fill up my tank before venturing out in to the deep wilderness. As I was pulling away from the pump 2 cars tried to get into the same space. The two men in the cars jumped out and started fist fighting. I thought these people have absolutely lost their minds. \r\n Around noon that day I was heading back to Covington and was getting so aggravated because I could not get a cell signal or even a radio station. I just figured it was because I was way out in the boonies. It took me about an hour to get home and when I did I had over 20 messages on my answering machine. The one that truly scared me was from my Dad; he said it was going to be bad. My dad has worked for the levee board in New Orleans for a long time and has ridden out many storms but even he was afraid. He said he may be able to come home if they can get the flood gates all closed. This would be the last time I would hear from him for three weeks. I called my mom and told her to send my kids to my sisters in Brookhaven and I would pick them up late Sunday or early Monday. I figured schools would be closed on Monday at least since so many had evacuated and needed time to get home. I then called my Fiancée who told me for the first time ever he was on the relieve team and would be coming home around 8 that night. We both figured we would have a nice quiet weekend where we could both get studying done (he is a student at Loyola). \r\n That evening we had a nice dinner and relaxed. The next morning we woke up to hell. The storm still had not gone in another direction. It really was coming straight at us. We realized it was too late to try and evacuate, besides that my grandparents refused to leave and because of their health I was not going to leave them here alone and helpless. Dave\'s (my fiancé) parents called and told us they had chartered a plane and we had 2 hours to get over there. There was no way I was going to be that far from my children, my grandparents, and my home. We refused. Now suddenly we realized what we were dealing with. Dave ran off to Home Depot and bought tons of plywood. It took us all day to board up because most of our house is stucco or brick. We put the kid’s toys, trampoline, and potted plants in the garage. \r\n As the storm approached everything seemed normal and I began to think it would be just another storm. We watched T.V., ate a nice brisket, and watched the rain from the small windows running down the sides of our front door. Around midnight the wind went crazy and by 4 am the power was gone. I went to sleep till the house started shaking and I thought the roof was coming off. We sat around listening to the radio, everything still seemed okay. Even after the storm passed and we began to assess our damage (which was minimal) as well as our neighbors. Our neighbor a few doors down is the 911 director for our parish, had 3 trees down and water leaking into his kitchen. I called to let him know and he informed me that while it is possible to call within the city of Covington you can\'t call anywhere else. He also told us it might take days before anyone could cut us out of the neighborhood. I was stunned that we were completely shut off from the world, but I figured it would be back up tomorrow or Wednesday.\r\n The next day the people on our surrounding streets started venturing out on 4-wheelers, bikes, and foot to try to find a way out. Many of these people we had never met before but we all quickly became friends. Their were power lines, trees, and in some spots several feet of water. We live on the top of a little hill so we stayed dry. By Wednesday evening we had cut a path out to the service road and to Hwy 190. \r\n I sent Dave to my check on my grandparents. Six hours later he came back home and said the damage around the area is devastating but my grandparents were okay. They had a generator so he could keep his oxygen flowing and pug in a fan at night We also had a generator that at first we had hooked up to the first four houses next to us to keep refrigerators running. It did not take long to realize that gas was not going to last and we began to siphon gas out of our friends car. \r\n Our neighbor finally made it to the house and he told us that the twin spans and causeway were damaged. I was become frantic worried about what my little girls had to be thinking. There was not cell service at all. The parish officials could not even call out to let the world know we were not all dead. I swear I thought I would scream if I heard the guy on the radio call out to all the surrounding parish officials begging them to call him and let the listeners know what was going on. Did he honestly think that only people on the west bank listened to him? How could he not know that he was the only station available? I defiantly had a love / hate relationship going with him. The sheer ignorance of some of the callers led to many a laughs. Eventually the calls began to break your heart. All those people....\r\n I had to get out. I did not care if I could not get back home or not. My fiancée and I loaded up our 2 cats and my daughters annoying nasty gerbil and we took off. When I made it to my sister’s house it was pitch dark and no one was around. I fumbled through her house and found her phone and called my mom in Jackson. As soon as she heard my voice she began screaming and crying. I did not have the time or patience for this and told her I just wanted to find my kids. I had to hang up on her and I jumped in my truck and drove about a half mile to her next-door neighbors. As soon as I pulled up, I saw my girls. They did not even realize it was me at first but when they did they just started crying. They thought we were dead. I swore I would never let them out of my sight again. We drove that night to Natchez because we heard they had gasoline. After waiting in line for hours we drove on to Baton Rouge. Dave\'s parents had rented a small apartment. It was disgusting. They paid $2000 a month for this hell hole with urine all over the bathroom and carpet that had not been shampooed since the 70\'s. A few days later they bought a house because they realized their million dollar home in old Metairie was destroyed. His medical offices were gone. Everything was gone.\r\n We went home and lived without electricity for over a month. We had to drive back and forth to Baton Rouge for gas, food, and my daughter’s medications. We were all so stressed because yes, our house went unscathed. We were lucky we had a home. The question quickly became how are we going to pay for it? What about the brand new SUV my fiancée just bought me. My business was crippled. Dave could not go back to Tulane or his dad\'s doctor\'s offices. We did not know what to do. Every hospital in the area was \"begging\" for help but when you went there they turned you away. Same with the state police and ambulance services. We were both well qualified for positions at all these place but so was thousands of other people who were now unemployed. \r\n Life is slowly moving on. It will never be normal again. This is the new normal. I hope from the bottom of my heart that we all take advantage of this recovery period. I hope we remember the kindness and generosity of strangers near and far way. I hope this compassion for one another becomes the foundation for our new society. We have a chance to do it better and do it right. I hope we are intelligent enough as a state to do this one right.\r\n Misty Sure\r\nP.S. While I was in Baton Rouge my step-mom called and told me she just saw my dad. He was on either \"Good Morning America\" or \"Today\" anyway, he was alive! He had been stranded on the top of a levee board truck with another guy. The water she said was up to the windows. My dad has since returned to the Levee Board, he has had a hard time dealing with all the dead bodies and trauma of knowing that the Levee Board officials just left them out there with nothing, not even shelter. He still has not been paid for the weeks of nonstop hours he had to put in. He plans on retiring this year and moving to Tampa to be with my 7 year little sister. He swore he will never stay and work another hurricane in this city again. I have tons of friends in EMS, fire, and police who feel the same. It is not worth your life.