Two Anniversaries

I mark the anniversary of two events, one personal and one global:

One year since Katrina. On the eve of the hurricane, I pleaded with Katrina to miss the Big Easy, but it's not like hurricanes listen to people (or read blogs, for that matter). Still, it seemed at first that New Orleans had dodged a bullet by not taking a direct hit...and then the levees broke.

Since then, parts of New Orleans have rebuilt, while other parts remain as devastated as they were a year ago. I felt fortunate to be able to visit there last spring break (a visit which was chronicled in these two posts). And while my friend who went to school at Loyola isn't returning there, I'm sure there will still be plenty of chances to visit in the near future.

Be sure and check out a great retrospective that came out over the weekend: A Day in the Life of Katrina Survivors.

My fifth anniversary as a homeowner. In a way, I can't believe it's been five years since I closed on Casa de Kev...but on the other hand, the days of renting seem like an eternity ago.

It was an unusual time in history, coming just a few weeks before 9/11; the world was suddenly turned upside-down, and I had just taken on a financial responsibility like none other. Thankfully, I had plenty of work to keep my mind off things, since I had but a month to move everything out of my rental house and clean up out there. Pretty much every waking hour that month when I wasnt' teaching was spent on the moving process. (And let there be no doubt that these "problems" paled in comparison to those of the people who actually had a personal connection to 9/11.)

Since then, it's been great to be a homeowner, and, while I can't believe I spent as many years as I did pouring out money on rent, I'm glad I ended up where I did--right in the middle of my teaching route and close to all the cool new stuff they've built out here in the past year. There may come a time when I "upsize" a bit, but for now, this place is pretty much perfect.