Katrina didn't sweep me away from New Orleans or the Mississippi Gulf Coast. When she struck, I didn't have any blood relatives living in either place. My father's job had taken me away from home years before, but when Katrina struck, childhood friends, at least one Godmother, a special soul to me and a region and place that for me can only be described as home were all in the crosshairs. I worried and wondered about those still there and for the region, what it would become. In the years since I've been back to New Orleans a number of times and witnessed her shaky steps to recovery to where she's at today. She's still not the NOLA that she was before. The exodus of people and their culture that added to the unique not quite melted, but happily mixed, mélange that makes the city so special, has shaped her in ways no one could ever have imagined. Don't get me wrong, I still love her as much as I did all those years ago, but I hope she'll continue to welcome those home who know the history of her curves and quirks and who love her and who can share that love with newcomers and visitors.
I had only visited the Mississippi Gulf Coast this past June. Pass Christian or The Pass, and indeed the entire Gulf Coast stretch, is a magical place. I always have said that I was born in Texas (something I'm fiercely proud of), but that I got my soul in NOLA. Looking back, I realize, I found my heart in The Pass. The super bright white beaches that stretch for miles through the communities have long been a draw and a danger. When you add the laid back atmosphere, amazing food, stretches of forest and bayou, there is something for everyone and all the time in the world to do it seemingly. I mentioned that there was a special soul to me living in the region when Katrina hit. That special soul was Emma "Anita" Seals of Pass Christian, MS, although, when we lived in The Pass, I simply new her as Anita. I was around three years old when we moved to The Pass and Anita was larger than life. Her thick glasses and German accent made her unique compared to any of the other people I had known in my young life. Having learned her English largely through military men on the base where she met her husband, she had a colorful vocabulary. One naughty word in particular was her favorite. It had an exotic sound to it made all the more so by her accent. As a child, I was surprised to learn it wasn't the kind of word you said in polite company. I remember another time when she was eating with my sister, mother and I at a Chinese restaurant and convinced my older sister that you had to lick the plates as that was the only way they would clean them. I can still remember Anita and my sister licking their empty plates. I guess even then I had something of a skeptic in me, as I didn't join in. There are so many happy memories of Anita - her playing with her Mickey Mouse and Disney toys with us or buying us a frozen treat on those sweltering Summer days that you can only get in those tropical type regions of our country or her animated way of expressing herself. Anita was the first non-family adult role model I can recall. I hadn't seen Anita in over 30 years when she died in Katrina, and surely by now she would have been gone to old age, but I had tears in my eyes when I read that Katrina had claimed her. Katrina claimed Anita because she wouldn't leave her beloved animals behind. I wish I had been there to take her and her animals along with me to evacuate. I hate the idea that she drowned there in the swirling waters inside her home. She shared her love of animals with our already animal loving family, encouraged me to enjoy the smallest of pleasurable moments in life, to not be afraid to speak your mind, even in colorful language (sometimes even in polite society), to embrace the spirit of exploration and be open to knowing those from other cultures. Her name is carved on the city memorial in Pass Christian, MS, along with the others lost, each deserving of a remembrance. As I look back, I realize that I found my heart in Pass Christian because a woman named Emma that went by Anita taught me how to follow it's beat.
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