Shortly after the storm, my father-in-law observed that our lives would forever be divided into pre-Katrina and post-Katrina.
How very true. Katrina interrupted so many lives. Families have been displaced, perhaps permanently. Plans have been put on hold, perhaps forever.
For example:
This summer Xy and I had some heart-to-heart talks about having a child together. Ultimately we decided to give it a whirl. Xy went off the pill, and we planned to have our first go at conception at Phil & Jen’s wedding.
Phil & Jen got married on Labor Day weekend, under the Brooklyn Bridge. Of course, at that time, our lives were in complete upheaval. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans the previous weekend.
I cancelled our plane tickets and our hotel reservations. We didn’t cancel our baby-making plans, but we put them on hold indefinitetly.
For a while I toyed with the idea of forging ahead boldy. Procreation in the face of tragedy would be a triumphant act, the ultimate affirmation.
But in the end I couldn’t conscience it. Every advisory I read said that pregnant women should not return to New Orleans. So if Xy was pregnant, could she hang out in Indiana while I returned to New Orleans for the opening of the University in January? I couldn’t see that working.
So the whole frickin’ prospect is on hold because of a damn storm.
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I know you two will be great parents. I also know that “EverPax Jr.” will be one hell of a kid. We need more folks like you around. Y’all have been such a blessing to so many folks. I count you as one of my many.
Don’t have an easy answer, but understand the frustration.
My fave Rox episode is the “Spring Break in Elletsville” – it’s funny (yet apt) to think of the college students in it now being mature enough to think about children.
There’s never a good time, there’s never a bad time, there’s only time – and less of it each day. Get crackin’, you two!
[…] funny thing happened almost exactly halfway through those five ostensible years. We had a baby. I used to think our lives would always be defined in terms of before and after Katrina. But it turns out that […]