The Fifteen Years Later Affair

 

For my Man from U.N.C.L.E. fandom friends who get the reference in the title of this blog post, I salute you! But alas, I am referring to another fifteen years later affair: the fifteenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, August 29, 2005. Days after Laura, an even more powerful storm, slammed into western Louisiana with 150 mph winds and flooding storm surge, it feels a little bit awkward to be remembering Katrina. But we will always remember Katrina. 

The year after the storm, when I was between church assignments, I worked at the Metairie Barnes & Noble. It had sustained damage when the air conditioning units on top of the building collapsed into the building, and the store had to be completely renovated. They hired a lot of employees to reopen the store, and I was one of them. It was, quite simply, one of the best jobs I have ever had. We reopened in mid-March of 2006, and for the grand reopening party, we all wore T-shirts with this artwork on the back, which as I recall was created by a store employee, one T. Johnston.  

During my time working at the store, I helped many customers who were trying to replace books they had lost in the flood. I found myself in the role of a pastor as I listened to their Katrina stories as we looked for books. Alas, many of the books they were trying to replace, especially the beloved cookbooks, were out of print.

One day, while I was working at one of the cash registers, a customer came to my station. She was a member of a church where I had been a student pastor six years earlier. I had just learned that her husband had passed away after a long battle with cancer. In those months after the storm, a number of people with underlying health conditions died. The stress of dealing with the aftermath of Katrina may have played a role. I had dearly loved this man; he was one of the elders and did so much around the church. I remember holding that lady's hand across the register counter, praying for her. You can take the minister out of the church, but you can't...

In 2019 I published a novel set in the time of Katrina, The New Normal. I had the great privilege of doing a book signing at that Barnes & Noble. The store manager had been working at that store during the time I worked there.

Times are tough right now during this pandemic. Barnes & Noble has been struggling as a corporation. I hope this store survives. On the fifteenth anniversay of Katrina, I salute you, too.



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