My name is Reaux Michelle Delahoussaye.  I am ten years old.  I live in Hope, Arkansas, with my family.

I was born in Louisiana, near New Orleans.  I lived there until four years ago, when Hurricane Katrina hit.  I am lucky we survived with nary a scratch; we got out just in time with only the clothes on our backs.

I don't like to talk about Katrina; she did a lot of people wrong, and people are still suffering because of it.  Katrina is a sore spot with me and my family.

We lost everything.

I have two sisters Reaundra and Rishelle (11 and 15) and three little brothers, ages 6, 7, and eight.  Their names are Raun, Ryan, and Ricky.  I also have my maman and my papa, as well as my grandmere Alida, who lives with us.

We are Cajun French.  We speak both French and English.  We are very proud of our Acadian heritage.  We love good Cajun food and music; nothing makes us happier than kickin' up our heels at a good ol' fais do-do with my family!

I am in the fifth grade at Hope Elementary School.  My best friend is Reagan Laura Patterson, who is 11.  I met her in first grade; we've been close pals ever since.  She has a younger brother, Johnny, six, and a baby sister, Lindsay, who's nearly two.  She looks a lot like the girl who played on the show "Little House on the Prairie"; in fact, that's her favorite television program.  Reagan watches it all the time; I watch it with her whenever I go to her house.

I like Reagan.  She's funny; she always makes me laugh.  Reagan is a champion burper; she can burp louder than anyone I know.  She also can spit better than most of the boys in our school, and can whip you good at marbles or stickball. 

Nobody'd better call her a "girlie-girl", 'cause she ain't!  :)

Reagan likes me too, though she says she never can understand us when we talk in French.

I like Arkansas.  It's plenty hot still in the summer, but it's a lot nicer than Louisiana.  Don't have to worry about hurricanes as much; now tornadoes, yeah, we get those.  I can handle a tornado better than a dangfool hurricane; tornadoes are a lot smaller, for one thing, though they can cause a lot of damage.  You'd best be careful when tornadoes are forecast; they can hurt or kill, too, just like any hurricane!

About the only good thing about a hurricane is there's plenty of warning when one is going to hit (several days notice, in fact); don't have that luxury with a tornado.  One can pop up quicker'n snot.  Not much time to get to the storm shelter when a tornado comes.  You're awful' lucky if you have a few seconds' lee time!

And what's with few basements here in the southland?  Doesn't make any sense, especially since we're in the zone called "Tornado Alley"!  (We don't have a basement, but we do have a storm shelter, thank the Lord!)

Maman made sure when we moved here that we got a house that had good shelter.  Good thing, too, especially since mamere' (grandmere') Alida is disabled.  She uses a scooter to get around. Grandmere' is deathly afraid of storms.  Shoot!  If she could, she'd be livin' in that shelter all the time!

Well, I gotta scoot.  Soon to have supper; then we may take in a movie.  Catch y'all later! 

~Love, Reaux.  :)

*To be continued.*