Marsha’s Home Demolished
We received an email yesterday from Aunt Marsha. She had returned to her home in Pass Christian, Mississippi, for the first time in months. As some of you may recall, Marsha’s home was demolished by Hurricane Katrina and she had moved to Atlanta.
Anyway, here’s what she found, in her words …
Turned the corner on Morton Ave. in MS and was met by bulldozers, cranes, etc. THEY WERE JUST (I MEAN, AT THAT EXACT MOMENT. THAT MOMENT.) DRIVING UP TO THE FRONT PORCH/DOOR OF MY HOUSE TO MAKE THE FIRST BLOW. I STOOD THERE AND WATCHED THEM DEMOLISH MY HOUSE—AFTER TRYING, FOR SOME VERY ODD AND NOT UNDERSTOOD REASON, TO STOP THEM. RUNNING UP CRYING AND SCREAMING, “THAT’S MY HOUSE!” I WASN’T ALLOWED ONTO THE PROPERTY…IT WAS TERMED A “POLICE ACTION” AND THERE WERE ARMY AND SUCH FOLKS THERE WITH GUNS AND DETERMINED LOOKS. THEY DID STOP. THEY TRIED TO COMFORT ME AND EXPLAIN WHY IT WAS HAPPENING WHEN IT DID. THEY EVEN TOOK MY PHONE AND VIDEOED THE ROOF BEFORE THEY TOOK IT DOWN, AND ONE LADY TOOK A LOT OF DIGITAL PICS WITH HER OWN CAMERA, BUT, AS YET, I HAVE NOT RECEIVED THEM VIA E-MAIL.
Marsha, Granny and Aunt Gloria all lost their homes in the hurricane, but they’re each plugging along and rebuilding their lives. Here are a few links to the photos of the Pass Christian area, for those who haven’t seen them:
Immediately after the hurricane, including the destruction at Marsha, Granny, and Gloria’s homes.
Three weeks later, pictures of Katrina’s wreckage all around the Pass Christian area.
Marsha’s home just two weeks before the hurricane, the first time I visited Pass Christian. That picture of Marsha and Megan dancing in the kitchen kept coming back to me when we were there climbing through the wreckage with Marsha and Jamal three weeks later.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 19th, 2006 at 8:44 am. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on May 21, 2006 at 3:03 pm Tom wrote:
Marsha - I’m sorry this had to happen. And moreover, I’m sorry you had to watch it happen. I can’t imagine what you must have felt watching this go on.
I’m just an old friend of Doug’s (we share a hairline, among other things), but from talking to Doug and Megan and reading here, I feel like I know you (if only a bit). And this whole thing is a terrible thing for anyone to go through. I wish you all the best in Atlanta - you’ll have to deal with Braves fans, of course (says the die-harder-than-most Cubs fan), but maybe the weather will be more predictable.
Good luck to you from me, Lizzie, and Nora here in Chicago.
Tom
on May 22, 2006 at 12:27 pm AUNT MARSHA wrote:
HEY!!! Goodness and kindness on the web! Doug had to “mention” the comment to me or it could well have been another 3 mos. before I came back.
Thank you, Hons! ( well, Tom, you may share Dougy’s hair line, but only I share his moustache!!! Taking it off today,though! First time ever in life. Am going to use Nair. Whatcha think?) Your compassion has crossed a great and grand divide in my psyche (had a break in it recently, so the crossing was easier, he he he ) and given me a moment’s calm and peace and my newly worked pose of being demure and grateful. Truly, I am easy to know on line and much less so in person, so whatever you feel you know about me is operationally cool. The whole Katrina thing: I so want to talk of it endlessly, you know…tell everyone of my angst and anxieties about the whole low rent affair—the demolision notwithstanding…ho hum. But, am getting the distinct and distinctly uncomfortable feeling folks have heard enough. “Write a book,” they say. I say, “Take a flying…” oops. Must play nice on O’Doug’s site….yes, well….ok, let’s just leave it at “thanks”, and sincerely so. I can handle it—all of it. Just would be so much easier if I had an Allstate punching bag, methinks!
God bless, good night, and good luck?
Aunt Marsha or LRay from the Sigfried and Ray routine that didn’t happen all the way at the wedding…but Auntie Lindy and I discussed it again the other night: WE AGREE THAT THE WEARING OF THE GLASSES AND THE LIGHTING OF THE LIGHTERS WAS PROFOUNDLY SIGNIFICANT, ELEGANT AND BETTER THAN ANY OF THE HYPES WE HAD TRIED TO FRIGHTEN DOUG AND MEGGIE WITH PRIOR TO…HO HUM…
on May 22, 2006 at 1:09 pm Doug wrote:
Marsha, we truly appreciate your combination of enthusiasm and restraint at the wedding. You added a lot without scaring anyone away. No mean feat for a woman of your talents!
on May 23, 2006 at 9:43 am Tarun wrote:
Sad to learn about Marsha’s home. But that is the strength of Nature. One cannot fight it. At least consolation factor is that it was destroyed by nature and not any man. What would you say about the situation wherein humans demolish your home or work place. Well, it is true, in India, it just happend, on Supreme Court’s orders, people homes and work areas, shops etc were actually demolished in the Capital city of Delhi. First they took bribe so that such illegal structures came into being, then they demolished them to dust. Just imagine, what the world is coming to….
on June 4, 2006 at 3:43 pm Doug’s World » Guest post by Tad wrote:
[…] When somebody sends me an email that I find outrageous or entertaining or offensive (all three is best), I’ll post it here and call it a “guest post.” Then, after the fact, I’ll email the sender and thank them for helping me out. I sort of did this with Aunt Marsha a while back, but now I’m making it more orderly and official-sounding. So when you send me outrageous email, be prepared to have it shared with X people, whether you give me permission or not. […]