Memories of a Grand Old City, a Beautiful Gulf Coast and my Ex-in laws
Hurricane Katrina. What can be said about the devastation along the gulf coast of Mississippi and in New Orleans that isn’t already being said and shown vividly on TV? Cities and towns destroyed. Thousands dead, hundreds of thousands are now refugees and have lost their homes, their jobs, their families and friends. The devastation is unbelievable. It is heart breaking…

I have spent time in New Orleans, Alabama and the gulf coast of Mississippi. I have fond memories of my time spent there. My ex in-laws live in Gulfport Mississippi-- lived in Gulfport. My mother in-law was 20 years younger then my father in-law and my age. We were more like sisters than mother in-law and daughter in-law. We tried to maintain our friendship after my ex husband and I split up and for the first two years we managed ok. When I took my ex husband to court in pursuit of the divorce settlement he owes me, my sister-like mother in-law could not continue our friendship due to the extreme pressure she received from her husband. I understood this even though I had to grieve the loss of my friendship with a remarkable woman. I haven’t spoken to her or my father in-law in two years. I don’t know if they survived Hurricane Katrina. I don’t know if they evacuated the area before the storm hit. I’ve sent unanswered emails, left unanswered voice mail messages. I am unable to contact my ex husband to find out if they are ok. I don’t have his phone number or email address. My attorney speaks to his attorney and that is the only contact we have anymore. I could probably write him a letter and mail it to the address in Nevada listed on the recent court documents I received, but he wouldn’t answer it anyway. I can only sit and hope for the best possible fate for my once family.

I prefer to remember the good times I spent with them on the gulf coast of Mississippi, Alabama and in New Orleans. Times like driving up and down the gulf coast looking at the beautiful coastline and the southern mansions. Oprah Winfrey had a luxurious home there on the gulf coast of Mississippi... I doubt that it is still standing today.

I remember one day in particular driving up the coast towards Biloxi Mississippi when I insisted we be tourists and visit the historic Civil War Plantation Beauvoir of the only Confederate President Jefferson Davis. I had never seen an 1800’s southern plantation before. The Beauvoir looks out onto the Gulf of Mexico and spreads beautifully across sprawling land. The Plantation had been preserved and the Confederate Presidential Library was housed on the premises along with the Confederate Cemetery and the burial place of the Unknown Soldier. I wonder if this important piece of our nations history survived Hurricane Katrina. Their website hurricane update speaks only of Camille not Katrina.

There were leisurely days spent shopping with my mother in-law meandering up and down the gulf coast of Mississippi in quaint little unique shops. I bought a vivid abstract oil painting of reds and golds from a local artist in one of those shops. The painting still hangs on my living room wall. I wonder if the hurricane wiped out Mississippi’s local artists as well? I remember the many quaint antique stores that lined the gulf coast like the one where I bought an emerald green, heavy glass, vintage candy dish circa 1923. The painting and the vintage dish are my mementos of a lost place as well as a lost friend, and family.

We spent time in the casinos, both in Gulfport and Biloxi. Having grand dinners, seeing exotic shows, playing blackjack, roulette, and craps. At the Beau Rivage in Biloxi I won $800 dollars playing craps with one of my father in-law’s friends. He used to be a craps casino pit boss and showed me how, when, and what to bet. I redecorated my bedroom with that money and am continually reminded of the exhilarating time that night was for all of us. I brought home a replica Mississippi Magnolia, their state flower, for my bedroom that I bought at the Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi. It will always remind me of the time I spent in Mississippi on its beautiful gulf coast. Hurricane Katrina has destroyed all the casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport. Eliminating thousands of jobs and millions of economic income for the state of Mississippi.

We drove to Mobile Alabama and spent a day at the dog races watching beautiful greyhound dogs run after a mechanical rabbit. It was like going to a sporting event that included routing for the winner, hot dogs and beer, smiles and laughter. I spent the day placing bets based solely on the name of the dog. Names like Gladiator, Winsome, and Shiny Joe, winning more money than my father in-law who studied each dog’s statistics and breeding before placing his bet. Mobile suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina as well. I wonder if the dog park where I spent a fun filled day is gone forever?

And then there were all the wonderful times we spent in New Orleans. New Orleans… what a grand old City New Orleans was. There is so much history in New Orleans, more so than I could begin to tell. New Orleans... that is now under water and a city destroyed. I’ll simply recall with fondness the grandeur of the old colonial style mansions and plantations rich with history that lined the older streets of New Orleans. Hours spent exploring the ‘Cities of the Dead’ in the above ground tomb cemeteries of New Orleans-- where they bury their dead above ground because the city is below sea level and the dead tend to float in flooding. The streets are now lined with floating dead bodies from Hurricane Katrina's wake. I wonder if the long buried dead have joined the newly dead in their floating street graves? I remember walking the quaint streets of the French Quarter in the daytime, and eating in fine restaurants at night. Restaurants where waiters brought fresh oven-hot biscuits right off the baking pan to your table, Cajun food was a delicacy and the wine was really fine. I remember one trip we took to New Orleans during Mardi Gras. We went early to watch the Mardi Gras parades with their elaborate costumes and floats. After the parades we joined the thousands that crowded onto Bourbon Street for Mardi Gras parties. Men and women lined the balconies of the hotels on Bourbon Street enticing those in the street to show a little skin for Mardi Gras beads. Women flashed their breasts; men dropped their pants all for the prize of a plastic bead necklace. Without a miracle, there won't be any Mardi Gras this coming February in New Orleans. And then there was jazz music. New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz music. New Orleans born jazz greats like Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr. and many many others. We would sit in dark little jazz pubs in the French Quarter and on Bourbon Street drinking whiskey and listening to the spellbinding music of jazz. Harry Connick Jr. is my favorite jazz pianist and Branford Marsalis is my favorite jazz saxophonist. They recently recorded a duet album together and they have joined the efforts to save and rebuild their great city. In a statement from his website Harry Connick Jr. states:

“It is hard to sit in silence, to watch one's youth wash away. New Orleans is my essence, my soul, my muse, and I can only dream that one day she will recapture her glory. I will do everything within my power to make that happen and to help in any way I can to ease the suffering of my city, my people!”

Like Harry Connick Jr., I can only dream of a day when New Orleans and the gulf coast of Mississippi will be returned to the glory of my memories…  posted by Matildakay at 9:55 PM