I had just moved into a sober living house in August '05 with intentions to change my life. The place is called Oxford House, they are all around the U.S. This one is in Metairie. I evacuated with a guy I barely knew who lived in an OH next door. We left Sunday before Katrina to go to Jackson, MS. I thought it would be a few days and we would be right back. Holy Crap that was not the case. We stayed at a hotel in Jackson til they kicked us out.

The family of the guy I was with met some nice people from Covington, Tennessee who said they had a place for us to stay (the guy's family and I). Off we went to Covington. We stayed in the pastor of the town church's house. The townspeople were very nice. They even had a dinner in our honor in which the whole town came. I liked it there. I even met a nice country girl.
At some point, the guy I was with decided that New Orleans wasn't going to be an option for a while and wanted to move to a big city to sell cars. I had to go with him because I did not think it was an option to stay with his family, who we would leave there. We stayed in another Oxford House house in Memphis until we found out we could get a free apartment in Nashville. Off we went to Nashville.

I didn't get any money from FEMA because I didn't have an address or a bank account. I worked at Family Dollar in Nashville just to make ends meet. I lived off of donations from Red Cross and stuff like that. I wasn't completely sober by this time but did not tell the guy I was with. It was mostly a nightmare.

I finally scraped up enough money to buy a bus ticket and left Nashville for New Orleans on November 22, 2005. While on the bus, I met a guy who needed help. He said he had nowhere to go. I told him he could come with me to the Oxford House in Metairie. He confided in me that he had a drug problem, as well and this might be helpful to him. After talking to this man for a while I thought to myself, "maybe I should help myself" and decided on this bus ride to recommit myself to sobriety and give it an honest chance. I never saw the guy again, he disappeared when we arrived.

November 23, 2005 became my sobriety date and I am happy to say that,upon this writing, I have not had a drink or a drug since. I became active in a 12 step program and now live in the Uptown/Riverbend area with my fiancee. I now work at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Metairie. I will get my Bachelor's this summer and plan to go to Grad School for Counseling. My family was scattered around the U.S. for a while, but eventually all came back. While the people of New Orleans are rebuilding their lives, so too I have been through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.