Living in Old Mandeville for 28 years we have packed many times for hurricanes. A few clothes and my precious pictures and tapes of my family fill our car & RV. We had never before gotten water close to our house from the lake so I felt confident we would be back in a few days to clean up branches from trees and wait for the electricity to come back on. What we returned to was a flooded house, trees down everywhere, telephone poles broken like matchsticks and our business in shambles. My children attended school in New Orleans so they ended up in Houston for 4 months while my husband and I stayed here trying to piece our lives together again. The people of Houston were wonderful. My husbands cousin enlisted the help of her friends who provided a home, furniture, food and moral support to my children and other family members. The schools welcomed them with open arms and provided counseling for those traumatized by Katrina. We will forever be grateful! We lost a lot of \"things\" but those are things that can be replaced. Many people have come to our aid or offer moral support. Katrina brought out the best and the worst in people.