Every other day, I take a ride to the Pascagoula beach and then circle around to Washington Avenue, a block over. Each time I go, tears well up and I cry. If my heart hurts how much more the hearts of the people who lost their homes and possessions. A large piece of plywood with their name and address scrawled in huge letters leans against the Fema trailer or a nearby tree.

When driving through the areas, my feelings are of being in a strange world, a place I no longer recognize. It has become extremely difficult, after almost six months, to remember what was there. The once beautiful oak trees have a petrified look, as if what they had seen on August 29th turned them to stone.The scenery is devoid of color. It has become a wasteland.

Today the Corp of Engineers were everywhere. Washington Ave., So. Pascagoula and all the side streets in the vicinity of the destruction. Linemen from power companies were hard at work "restringing" the lines.Workers from telephone companies were making repairs to their lines. The bustle of activity lifted my spirits.

As I rode farther down Washington Ave., I heard the sound of hammering and the loud shrill of saws. At least four homeowners in close proximity to one another had begun to rebuild their homes.Their spirit will encourage others to once again rebuild and not let fear overwhelm them to the point of not going on with day to day life.

We have all learned many valuable lessons from Katrina. Of course, we have no control over the destruction a hurricane may cause but we can take better precautions to save our lives. Our area, at this time, had only a dozen souls who didn't survive the storm but they were a dozen too many.

Mississippi is coming back!