There is something honest, wholesome, and secure about knowing where your place is in the world. Even with misfortunes, economic downturns, illnesses and death of family and friends, the Acadians in Southwest Louisiana- are a proud people full of ingenuity. We know our purpose and place in the world, and it is easier for us to adapt to challenges-well most challenges.

Hurricanes from the Gulf are always a concern, because their actual path is unpredictable. When you look at the images on weather updates, you will notice that the “projected” path is often a funnel shape. You know they are coming, but you never know how damaging the winds will be, whether storm surges will roll in from the Gulf at eye level of roof tops, or in the case of people inland, whether the rain will be of depths that even Noah would fear.

The great thing about technology is that it can warn people days before a Hurricane will hit, and so folks have time to prepare. Boards are nailed up, precious belongings are loaded into the back of SUVs and if you are lucky you have some distant relative out of the path of destruction, you can visit for a few days. Cook, eat and catch up on family and stay in front of the weather channel hoping to hear news of your area.

The storm passes, and if you are some of the unfortunate ones to have lived through a Hurricane, the rebuilding process can be arduous, and tearful. When you have that center of purpose and the community in which everyone intimately knows you are in need, (and in many cases you are related to you somehow), the aftermath turns from hopeless to merely daunting.

When a Hurricane hit my life, there was no warning- no sirens, no emergency broadcasts, no signs to where to go for safety. It struck my life with a vicious, and uncaring callousness that knocked me to my knees and laid waste to everything. The hurricane of my husband’s deception was targeted and silent; so all anyone noticed was the wreck it left in my life. They could see the damage, but knew nothing of its origins. It was a black storm that passed in the night and in the morning’s light showed nothing but absolute devastation and ruin.