My cousin Edwine, who owned a home in New Orleans East (near the devastated 9th Ward) had this to say: "We waited until that Sunday of the storm because we thought--like so many others--that the storm would miss us. We watched all night and realized that this might be the one. And we started packing everything we could--birth certificates, immunization records, pictures. So many times we had evacuated before and didn't pack important documents. We usually came back and nothing would be wrong.

"Sunday morning had an eerie kind of quietness that we had never experienced before. The birds weren't singing. The woodpecker that wakes me up in the morning was gone. I packed more papers than I packed clothes. I thought we would back on Tuesday, but little did we know. We left on Sunday--it took us 3 1/2 hours to get to Mandeville, La. which was only 20 minutes away. We were on the Contra road where everyone was trying to evacuate. Families were trying to run for their lives.

"Because my mother had a heart attack when we got to Mississippi, the doctor told us that we couldn't travel to Texas. We came back to Baker, La. and stayed with a relative for two weeks, as we sat and realized that we couldn't go home. Officials wouldn't let us back in the city.

"When I got home and opened the door, it was horrific. There was not a single thing that was in the place we left it in. Clothes, shoes and toys were everywhere--the refrigerator floated across the kitchen. You feel so violated. Imagine waking up one morning and everything you know is gone. And my experience is not as extreme as those who were trapped in the Superdome or were trapped on the overpass or in their homes, but I will say that God was certainly in the plan.

"It took me three years to come to grips with the fact that I had to sell my property. I did not have enough to rebuild my house, even with having flood and homeowners insurance. I never thought that I would have more than 50% of flood damage on my home. I am 54, and faced with a 30-year mortgage again.

"I'm offended that we celebrate the anniversary of Katrina because there are people who will never be restored to their former place, especially the elderly. It will never be made right until the federal government take responsibility for the levees breaking and compensates people accurately."

When I was talking to Edwine yesterday, she was in the dollar store buying storm supplies for the Hurricane Gustav, ironically on the anniversary of Katrina. She said she was unnerved and afraid that once again, her home would be destroyed. With other parts of my elderly family still rebuilding their homes and putting their lives back together, I can only think one thing:

Oh, God, not twice.