It’s hard to believe that Hurricane Katrina was 5 years ago. The lyric in a familiar song, ‘time keeps on slipping into the future’ seems to be the motto of my life. When a friend of mine was re-mincing about our response to Katrina, it jarred me a little. How can 5 years have already disappeared?
Responding to the aftermath of Katrina was one of those life changing events for me. Even though I had witnessed the disaster of 9/11, nothing compared to the utter devastation of what this hurricane inflicted on mile upon mile, state upon state. I couldn’t wrap my brain around most of what I was seeing. Sites, smells, and even the rancid taste in the air stayed with me for weeks after my return. To this day, when I see a windowless, white van I can’t help but think of the body recovery vehicles.
I have written two other posts about my time spent in New Orleans and St. Bernard’s Parish. You can find them here and here (I’m not sure why the pictures are messed up in the post When I get some time I will fix them). What I do want to share for this 5 year anniversary post is the fact that I had some true friends that were working side by side with me. We dealt with some tough stuff…most of the stuff the average person will never see in a lifetime. These chaplains that I got to work with, I consider the best of the best. I will never forget sitting with them in broom closets talking with a burned out paramedic, or sitting on a curb in a flooded out neighborhood waiting for the body recovery vehicles to bring the dead to the ‘reefer trucks’, or standing on I-10 overpasses ‘counseling’ the rescue workers, or going through decontamination just so we could enter back into our cars to head to base camp. So many memories with some incredible people. I couldn’t imagine a better team to work with. I couldn’t imagine a better group to process the experience.
5 years later I still have some images of that time burned into my brain but most importantly I have memories burned into my heart. The experience has made me a better person. The experience has sealed upon my heart the chaplains that I know I can count on when we are faced with something really, really bad. Those relationships were forged in flood waters, on church floors, at base camps, inside of a Navy ship library, and in the back of a D-MORT facility. When it comes to the work we do as chaplains, I can’t imagine a relationship any stronger than the ones that were built in New Orleans. And for that, I feel incredibly blessed.
