You may recall that in August 2005, after Katrina hit New Orleans, a reader named Brigitte, a white woman, shared her story with us, as she and her family fled to safety in the aftermath. She recently sent me this follow-up to her adventure.

Hi Ellie

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, my life, and that of my family changed drastically. We have settle in Ohio, near family. You may recall that I was pregnant at the time and now have three daughters. Autumn Rain is our second daughter and her birthday is actually September 24th, very close to Noah's. Elish, our third daughter, is now six months old.

Willow our oldest, is five and she usually stands beside me, or pulls up a chair, when I read your daily column. She asks me questions about your columns, and she prefers it if I'm completely honest with her about everything you write, especially as it relates to your posts about Earth changes. She has not forgotten about our exodus from New Orleans, and probably never will. She misses our former home and lifestyle so much. That always sounds funny to me when I try to explain that to the people that live here, because we're still home body type people as we were there.

There was just a very different feeling in the Heart of the Quarter, different things to do, hmmm...what is the word I am looking for? I suppose diversity?! Don't get me wrong. She loves living here with a nice yard and neighborhood children to play with, though she misses what was there in the French Quarter. It was so VERY different from this life in Ohio.

Everyday that we went out for walks in New Orleans, there were artists in the streets, street performers, musicians, tarot readers, and the tour guides, all of whom knew Willow and Autumn Rain, as their dad was a tour guide while we lived there. I miss it a lot too.

My husband, Matthew, was contacted by his former boss about coming back to do some tours this fall, but like myself, he doesn't ever want to have to go through that living hell again. As much as we miss it, we will never live there again. It's hard to forget those days of starving and watching pointless violence happen right before you. Oh, I could look back and type more if I allowed myself, but I really don't think I need to explain what it was like there to you.

Our beloved family dog, Guinness, was lost in the confusion. Toyota offered Matthew a free rental car to drive down and pick Guinness up once we knew he had been rescued from the house.

When Matty returned to New Orleans to get him, it was when Hurricane Rita was approaching and there was still a sick form of chaos in the streets. Some of the police officers at this point had gone mad. Matty ran into a woman who was trying to rescue animals, but had to leave as a police officer mistook her for his wife, also thinking he was no longer on the streets but in his own home, end result was that he was trying to have relations with her right there in front of everyone. There's more that Matty told me, all of it like a bad nightmare. I won't get into all of it now. Present day, present situations are here at hand. A new dog is with us now as well, another black lab mix, a companion for Guinness. We named him Captain Jack.

Love,
Brigitte

In the late 1990's many people sensed prophesized end times, which grow ever closer as physical reality gives way to evolving consciousness. People believed the worst would happen and planned for it. For some it came. For others it became a doorway to new horizons that mirror our experiences and lessons in 3D.

... And so consciousness emerged in the 21st century grid, ready for the battle, yet not really. We are tired. There was great sorrow and loss, but that is always true in the human experiment. It's nothing new, just information more readily accessible in a world gone crazy while the healers persevere and we try to make sense of it all while awaiting a final outcome ... on many fronts.

If you consider Katrina brutal, and too close to home ... what about Indonesia, Asia, and Africa, hit hard by endless Earth changes? The wave returns as we roll into 2007.