Bayou La Batre, Alabama

I wasn’t prepared for the destruction I saw when I went to my grandparent’s house in Bayou La Batre, Ala. for Thanksgiving. Hurricane Katrina left a heavy toll, and it was hard to find anything of the picturesque fishing village that is like a second home to me. Street after street told the story of the storm’s fury. Lives upended. Dreams shattered.

Finally though, I turned and saw this scene.

Somehow, amid all the devastation, life is slowly getting back to normal. Things will be different. For many, it will be a new life unlike any they have ever known. The future is wide open and scary as hell. But the people of the bayou are as resilient and determined as the river that sustains them. This is their home, and they aren’t going anywhere.

As for me, I am home again too, back in my own city with my own river.

It’s good to be home.