Oakwood reopens

Katrina rolled through our city more than 2 years ago. Our home and the community we live in was in the 20% of the city that wasn't flooded. While we were evacuated, our biggest concern was fallen trees and looting. Our neighborhood sits in the middle of several nicer neighborhoods with bigger houses so we figured that most looters would head to the more affluent parts of our area. However, our neighbor posted signs that donned such welcome phrases like, "Looters will be shot" to deter anyone who might enter our little section. The blessing was that we didn't have looting in our area. Another neighbor told us about a prowler that was in our yard the night we evacuated, but the police were called and he didn't get into our house.

Well, in the last 2 years since we've been back, we've missed some "neighbors" that were the target of looting. One is the closest grocery store that was completely ransacked. The owners refuse to return to the community. The building was bulldozed. The little grocery store reminded me of the kind I grew up going to ... where you always met someone you know. We've heard rumors that a Walmart Neighborhood Market will replace it, but the lot is still vacant.

Our other old neighbor finally reopened yesterday. Oakwood Center is "our mall" on the Westbank. In the days after Katrina, it was looted and burned. Two of its anchor stores, Sears and Dillard's opened pretty quickly. Mervyn's completely pulled out of this area with no plans to return. JCPenney will reopen next weekend. It's been crazy to us that it's taken this long for it to "come back". Like good neighbors, we found an excuse to take a peek at the old friend with its updates and additions. Weird, but it felt good to walk around "our mall" last night. The boys and I will head there again today for some fun kid stuff. As you can see, the Soileaus are with us for the weekend. We're loving our time with them. More pictures to come of the rest of our visit.