I lived much of my childhood and most of my adult life in the New Orleans suburb Metarie, except for two years when I lived in Jerusalem, Israel when I studied in a seminary. I lived with my parents, working as a school nurse. That all changed with little warning in 2005.
When Hurricane Katrina struck, we all knew we were in danger. Along with my parents (then in their late 50s), we packed our most precious belongings along with all our basic necessities into all three of our cars. This included food, clothing, photographs, paintings, gifts, dishes, computers, electronics, and anything we thought was either extremely valuable or impossible or difficult to replace. All our cars were full.
After we hit the road, we started out by driving northeast on Interstate 59. We chose that direction not because we had any place to go in that direction but because we were trying to get away from the path of the storm. Our goal was to survive.
We stopped at the first motel we could find with a room available, somewhere in Mississippi. We spent more than a week there, waiting for clearance to go back home. When we could finally see our house again, we learned our house had been nearly submerged. Everything that remained was destroyed. Fortunately, all we lost (mostly furniture) was replaceable, and we were ready to move on.
The three of us remained strong and stuck together as we made a decision to relocate. We choose Florida because my brother had already been living there. He had already been married with three children then, and he and his wife have had two more since. My parents could now be near their only grandchildren (my nephews and nieces).
We all got a house in a retirement village in Delray Beach. I found a job at a nursing home, the first job I was offered. My parents both took jobs in their fields. We bought new furniture and built ourselves a new life, making friends in our new community. We were all very happy.
At the nursing home, I was made the night nurse for the wing with the most able-bodied residents. A young man named Scott hired the same week as me was made the lone certified nurse assistant for the wing. I was considered to be his charge nurse.
Working nights was brand new to me. I had to learn to sleep during the day and stay up all night. It was not easy.
Scott had chosen night shift because his seizure medication made him too tired to work all day. He had hoped that during night shift, he could at least get some time to sleep. As I observed him trying to catch as much sleep as he could while on duty, I knew he was breaking facility rules, but I did not report him to the supervisor, because I struggled myself to stay awake, and I very much understood him. He and I made a pact that we would take turns sleeping and try to get all work done. There really was not much work to do other than making sure all residents were safe and sound. It was not uncommon for each of us to be able to sleep 3-4 hours of the shift.
There was also plenty of time when both of us were awake, and we could get to know each other well. Both of us were never married. I was 16 years older, so it took a while before either of us could have the word romance in mind. But finally, I got up the nerve to ask him on a tour of the area I was still getting to know.
Since we were such a good pair working together, we had arranged with the scheduling coordinator to always have the same two days of the week off. It was during these times every week that we got to explore southern Florida. We saw Miami, the Everglades, and went swimming at the beaches often. This was the first time in my life I had a friend like this.
The nursing home had some empty rooms. One night, while at work, it was Scott's turn to sleep when the call light of an empty room went off. I went in to investigate, only to find a pill organizer in the vacant bed. I picked up the organizer, and I could hear something rattling. I assumed at first it was some pills, but to my astonishment, it was a ring!
Pretty soon, word got around to the remainder of the staff and some of the residents at the nursing home. By the time 7:00 came around, the whole nursing home was congratulating us on our engagement.
But there was a little bad news. We later learned it was company policy that family members were not allowed to work together on the same unit. And being an engaged pair, we could no longer work together.
Scott soon got transfered to another unit. There, he found himself unable to get along with the nurse in charge. Just weeks later, this led to his resignation. In his resignation later, Scott stated that he needed time off to prepare for our wedding, and this was accepted.
I soon changed my hours to part-time, and worked daytime and evening hours only so I could sleep at night. I needed more time to prepare for the wedding too.
This was a drain on our finances. Scott no longer had money to pay the rent on his apartment. With the wedding coming in four months, I kindly used my savings to pay for the place where I would live one day. Our religion strongly discourages cohabitation before marriage, so I stayed with my parents.
We had a simple, low-budget wedding. That was fine with me. More than 200 people came from the local area, New Orleans, Scott's native New Jersey, and other places. A lot of the nursing home staff came. Even a few residents from the unit where we worked together came with escorts. The wedding was beautiful.
Our choice for a honeymoon may sound strange to you. We live in Florida, and we are always near the beach. We were on a low budget. And we wanted a change of scenery. So we chose Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. We wanted some adventure, and it was there that we could see the mountains, hike, and experience nature. We also got to see the nation's capital nearby and some historic sites in the region.
Soon after the honeymoon, I returned to work at the nursing home. It was there that I suffered a serious injury. I needed a lot of bed rest to recover. And I found myself unable to work now.
Following the advice of a friend of my parents, I went and applied for Social Security Disability. Scott, who has difficulty working because his medicine requires him to sleep a lot, did the same. Within a year, we were both approved.
We both want new careers in our future, but for now, we are taking time off from work to enjoy ourselves while we can. We are also trying to have children. We cannot afford fertility treatment, but we are hopeful we can have children naturally.
Scott's parents are looking into moving down to Florida to be near us. We are looking forward to that so we can see them more often. They are not much older than me, and I get along with them very well.