Losing what mattered most

Losing a whole community of friends has been the most devastating effect of Katrina. No question about it. Watching all your friends get scattered to the wind - pardon the phrase - and knowing that some, if not all, of them won't return is just...hard. People you had drinks with, cried with, shared red beans & rice with, people who helped you move, brought you gifts when your dad died, people who made you feel good. All gone now. Some have said they're returning...but a lot of them aren't. They have jobs in other cities now, far from New Orleans. Some have kids and simply can't return for a while now, if at all. Our community of friends as we knew it simply doesn't exist anymore. *Poof.*

When I realized that my most valuable possession was this community, I just lost my shit. One evening, while talking/bawling with my friend Joyce, we both sobbed on each other's shoulders when this realization hit home. Possessions, as they say, can be bought and replaced. But as I wailed to Joyce, "Y-youu caaan't buy friends at the store!!" And then I cried, a result of both my deep grief and the fact that my abilities to describe my feelings of utter loss were crumbling into really lame metaphors.