What Do You Do?

You're 67 years old. You live in the home that your father built and your mother made beautiful. Everything that they worked hard for is in that house. Everything that you spent your life acquiring is in that house. You rode out the storm and made it safely through another hurricane. Then the water began to rise. You expect it to recede in a few hours but it continues to rise. It's in your drive way, at your front steps, on your porch, in your front door...
By the time you get out the water is five feet high in your house, which is built three feet above the ground to protect it from flood damage. Your furniture is floating and a lifetime of memories is underwater. What do you do?
You patch the hole in the floor of your boat and with the help of a neighbor, rescue other neighbors. The row your boat down Airline Highway to the airport and get out of town.

You just bought a house, your husband just opened a new restaurant and you're expecting your first baby. Your parents, grandmother, siblings, and most of your family live in New Orleans East and the Seventh Ward. You evacuate to Texas and stay with a friend. You watch the news and see that again, New Orleans avoided a direct hit from a major hurricane. The next day you learn that most of the city you were born and raised in is underwater, including your new home and your husbands restaurant. Your extended family is now dispersed across the south and you are pregnant and homeless. What do you do?
You move into a hotel, look for an apartment, your husband finds a job, you find a new obstetrician and you start your new life in a new state from scratch.

You just earned a big promotion at your job. You have a nice apartment in New Orleans East, a nice car and a wonderful little boy. He and his mom live a few minutes from your office and you see him every day. Your mom and grandmom live fairly close and you check on them regularly. You evacuate to your uncles house in Baton Rouge, while your son and his mom evacuate with her family. After the storm your apartment, your job, your sons home and your mother and grandmothers home are ruined in the deluge. What do you do?
Your company finds you a one bedroom apartment outside of the city and your mother and grandmother move in with you. You no longer see your little boy every day because his mothers job is now located in another state.

These are three stories about people who are close to my family. These people are the lucky ones. They lost everything but they still have their lives and their loved ones, although they may not see their loved ones because of relocation. None of them are able to return to New Orleans yet. If placed in any of these situations, what would you do?