Change is an important factor in everyone’s life, but you don’t always choose what that change is. You can change your hair, change schools, or change your clothes, but other, more impactful change might come as a shock to you. In 2005, my life was essentially changed forever.

On August 27,  2005, five year old me and my two year old brother, Owen, were sitting on the couch watching “Power Rangers.” It was a calm, quiet Saturday morning, or as I would like to put it, the calm before the storm. My parents were out in the backyard doing yard work and listening to the radio when all of a sudden they ran inside to the living room where my brother and I were. By the frantic look on both of their faces, my 5 year old mind, that was beyond its years in maturity and wit, knew something was wrong.

 “There’s a hurricane heading our way,” my mom said. Knowing that the area we lived in, New Orleans, Louisiana, was prone to hurricanes, our neighbors, other family members, and friends were not alarmed. However, my parents insisted on “evacuating,” whatever that meant. Don’t worry, I know what it means now, but at the time I viewed it as a mini vacation. I turned off the intense, suspenseful episode of “Power Rangers” that my brother and I were watching and my family began packing all that we could in our 2003 blue Honda Pilot. Then, we headed east towards Alpharetta, Georgia where we planned on staying with my aunt and uncle.   

During the eight hour car ride, my brother and I sat in the car impatiently the entire way there. My brother and I weren’t aware of the severity of the storm and neither were my parents. Nothing went through my mind about what the results of the hurricane would be, because quite frankly, I had no clue what was going on. After a 498 mile drive, we unpacked our car and got settled into what would be our home until God knows when.   

 2 days had passed. Monday, August 29th, 2005 at 6:09am Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast. The levees protecting New Orleans had broken and flooded the entire city. I vaguely remember how my family first found out the news, but what I will never forget was the expression on my parent’s faces. A look of shock washed over their faces. To hear a category three hurricane just struck the place you called home was absolutely heartbreaking.

When the storm died down about a week later, my uncle that stayed in Louisiana during the storm took his canoe out to evaluate our house. Moldy walls, our grand piano floating in the kitchen, and our couch upside down on the staircase, fourteen feet of water in our home were all images of our house included in the pictures we received from him. Everything we once had was gone and the only tangible objects from home we had was whatever was in the trunk of that 2003 blue Honda Pilot.

After realizing the living conditions in New Orleans were unlivable, my mom and dad made the executive decision to officially and permanently move to Alpharetta, Georgia. Never did I ever expect this to happen to me. However, in no way do I see this as a negative event that occurred in my life. For me, the whole experience changed my entire life for the better. Now, I live in a beautiful, thriving community and have a better understanding of not taking any part of my life for granted. If someone were to have no change in their life, they wouldn’t have the learning experiences in their lives that every single one of us needs.