[StBernard] Home is Where the Heart is - St. Bernard

[Westley Annis]

Home is Where the Heart is - St. Bernard 
By: Gretchen B. Young, St. Bernard Columnist
Updated: 28 days ago

For many St. Bernard Parish residents it doesn't matter where they evacuated
for Hurricane Katrina, it's getting back home that is important - and
they'll do whatever has to be done to get there.

It won't be easy. The whole community needs to be reborn, but people want to
go home.

Not long after the storm hit, we realized the whole parish had been
destroyed and our lives had been turned upside down. We realized we wouldn't
be returning to our homes to perform the usual after-hurricane cleanup but
to rebuild them. 

Many people who have returned to St. Bernard Parish or plan to do so in the
future have given me permission to share their thoughts, feelings and
details of daily life in today's and upcoming columns.

While it's hard enough trying to rebuild your home while living in your own
front yard, imagine doing it from another state. That's what Peggy Trudeau,
now living in Tennessee, is in the process of doing. 

But the hardest part for Trudeau and her family is being separated from each
other. Trudeau and her husband Randy have four children and three
grandchildren. They have always been a very close family, living only
minutes apart, seeing each other daily.

Like many others, they ended up in different places. Her husband's job
re-located them and their son Jeffery to Tennessee. Daughter Jeannie, her
husband and their three children ended up in Florida, while daughters
Justine and Jennifer and Jennifer's husband went to Baton Rouge.

Trudeau never felt so lost in her life. She is a giver, helping family and
friends who need her. She is a full-time homemaker, who often volunteered at
her children's schools. She was particularly looking forward to this year,
as her grandson started kindergarten.  

Although she was able to e-mail and use her video camera to communicate with
her daughters and grandchildren, it just wasn't the same. The little ones
want to know why they can't just go to grandma's, not understanding that
instead of being just minutes away, they are now many hours apart. She
misses her grandchildren running around laughing and feeling those little
arms around her neck and sticky kisses.

But for Trudeau the worst times after Katrina were the holidays, which have
always been a special time for her and her family. 

Trudeau is very talented and makes a lot of her own decorations for every
occasion, like the wooden lawn figures of everything from Santa and Mrs.
Clause to pilgrims, bunnies and ghosts. 

Not only did the hurricane take all her lovingly made decorations when her
house flooded, but it also took her spirit. It wasn't because her
decorations were gone but because her family was. For Trudeau, family is her
"spirit" and everything in her life revolves around that.

Halloween was the first holiday. Normally, Trudeau had a haunted house under
her carport for the trick-or-treaters. This year she, her husband and son
spent Halloween watching television in their rented apartment.

Thanksgiving was a little brighter because, after almost three months, the
family finally reunited.
But instead of spending the week preparing everyone's favorite dishes, she
spent ten hours driving to Florida.

Christmas turned out to be very difficult. Her daughter Jeannie was pregnant
with her third child and really wanted to be with her mother. Knowing her
soon-to-deliver daughter could not make the 10-hour drive to Tennessee,
Trudeau once again made the trip to Florida. She found it particularly hard
to get into the Christmas spirit in a hotel with no Christmas tree. When
asked what she wanted for Christmas, Trudeau said gifts didn't matter. The
gift she wanted most was to be back in St. Bernard together with her family.

Easter came and so did the family. The Easter egg hunt in their apartment
was a little different than what they were used to, but it was great to have
all of them together. Dinner was excellent.  Trudeau cooked crawfish in red
gravy, brought in from St. Bernard.

The most difficult holiday to handle was Mother's Day. Trudeau's daughters
videotaped their Mother's Day wish for her, but she didn't get to
participate in their annual tradition of going to Audubon Zoo and listening
to Irma Thomas with them. Instead of hearing Irma Thomas sing, "It's
Raining," it rained tears down Trudeau's cheeks. 

During this period, Trudeau and her husband visited St. Bernard periodically
and with the help of her family who'd evacuated to Baton Rouge, they were
able to cleaned out their house and salvage what little they could. Working
from Tennessee was draining, yet at the same time invigorating. It was
another step closer to home. They gutted their house and prepared it for
rebuilding. 

Trudeau's son-in-law came in from Florida and stayed in a FEMA trailer to
begin construction. This was wonderful for Trudeau because her daughter and
grandchildren came to stay with her. It was only for six weeks, but it
filled a gap in her heart.

As construction progressed, Trudeau traveled from Tennessee to choose doors,
windows, fixtures and paint - all the things that meant they were getting
close. By this time, all of her children had moved back to St. Bernard into
their own FEMA trailers. Trudeau was happy that when she came in to oversee
the progress on her house, all of her children were there and she could be
with them. It comforted her to know that even though they were still in
Tennessee, her children had each other close by.

Her heart isn't quite so heavy these days. Her house has walls, windows and
doors. It is close to being finished, and she knows that each day brings her
one step closer to going home. 

Perhaps as the holidays roll around again, Trudeau's newly rebuilt home will
once again be decorated, filled with the love, laughter and happiness that
is the glue that holds her family together and that no distance can take
away.

As the saying goes, "home is where the heart is," and for the Trudeau family
and many others like them, St. Bernard will always be home because that is
where our hearts are.

If you would like to share your story of rebuilding your home or have
interesting news to share, please write an e-mail and you will be contacted.
I look forward to re-connecting our fellow St. Bernardians with St. Bernard.
You can e-mail me at StBernard at StTammany.com. For "Subject" you can use "St.
Bernard" or "Share a Story".

Gretchen B. Young is the St. Bernard Parish columnist for StTammany.com.
Opinions expressed here are not necessarily shared by StTammany.com. Send
information and events on St. Bernard Parish to StBernard at StTammany.com.