Although, it's been a little over two years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, I can still remember the very first feelings that I had as I watched Hurricane Katrina crash unto the shores of my birthplace. As I watched the news on television in the safety of my sister's home 350 miles away from home, the intensity of the feelings that I had could only be described as empathy.

As I watched the developing story, I began to cry. It wasn't a mild weeping like when you are watching a movie that really moves you. The feelings that I had were so intense and came from way deep down inside. It was a physically painful cry. I was travailing. This was empathy.

In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, I cried daily as more details of the impact of this horrific hurricane became clearer. I grieved intensely for those that were lost in the hurricane as though they were my own loved ones. I cried tears of pain for the homes and all the family mementos lost in the devastation. I cried for businesses that people have worked so hard to establish just to have them washed away so quickly. I felt the weariness of the rescue workers who despite all their efforts were unable to save everyone.

I distinctly remember a story about a man who was on the roof of his home with his wife where they were seeking safety from the quickly rising water. Suddenly, the wind and waters pulled her from him. He tried to hold on to her but was unable to do so. It was as though God himself had yanked her from his hands. The way that I mourned for this man, this stranger, you would have thought that I had been holding his wife's hand when she was lost.

Still, here I am two years later with a lump in my throat thinking about all that transpired during that time. It still evokes feelings of empathy from me as though it were yesterday.

My children and I lived on the Northshore of Lake Ponchartrain. New Orleans is on the south shore. Slidell had been hit hard so there was a very real possibility that when we returned, our home would no longer exist. However, my tears were not for my own losses because, thankfully, what mattered the most to me, my children, were with me and safe.

Ten days after Hurricane Katrina hit, I received an email from my boss. Her email said, "Paula, if you get this, we need HELP!" My first thought was, "WOW!" I still have a job. The company that I worked for was a major part of the cleanup efforts then

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