WA-1(Emotional Release)-Final Draft

It was approximately 10 months after hurricane Katrina.  My uncle's house survived the hurricane, but was burned down when a power line fell two weeks after the storm.  We were fortunate that everyone was able to evacuate, so everyone survived.  My brother, sister, my dad and I were traveling down to New Orleans to visit some of my relatives, but mainly my grandfather.

My grandfather(nicknamed Nemo) wasn't in the best condition. Nemo  had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease many years ago, and his health was slowly getting worse.  Over the past years Nemo had become more and more forgetful.  Whether it was him forgetting an old family members name, or forgetting where he was, Nemo could never completely find his bearings anymore.

When we visited New Orleans it was usually a happy visit during which the French Quarter and other attractions were visited, and Nemo was forgetful, but O.K.  This time visiting was hard, not only because of the state of my grandfather, but because of the state of New Orleans.  Driving in the lower ninth ward was like a safari, but instead of trees and vines there were boats and scattered pieces of houses.  The shock of the scene was like a brick wall had been dropped on us.  Nobody had yet gotten over the loses from the hurricane.  Now on top of this my grandfather was very sick.

Nemo was having kidney trouble and other problems that tend come with old age.  He wasn't taking his medicine, he wasn't sleeping well, he ached everywhere and he just seemed overall tired and depressed.  When we talked to him he would look at us like strangers if he even did look up, and he would hardly ever respond.   Now it seemed like the only thing that could get a rise out of him was "do you want a bacon cheeseburger Nemo?".  Days went on with the status quo.  We celebrated his birthday but he didn't even seem to understand.  Everyone just drifted through the days like some strange dream, that they just wanted to wake up from.  Nobody could begin to deal with the emotional distress that was eating at them like a parasite.  We then said our goodbyes, hugged, and headed back to Charlottesville.

We then went back to our daily life with a little more bleak outlook.  I was at lacrosse practice on a friday about a month after that.  At the end of practice my neighbor came with my sister to pick me up. I thought to myself,"why is my neighbor picking me up, wheres my mom?", but I just dismissed it thinking my mom had a busy day and was not able to pick me up.  We got out of the car, thanked my neighbor, and started to walk down the driveway, when my sister stopped me, and told me that Nemo had died earlier that day. I was overwhelmed with sadness. I had never had to deal with death before, except on the news.  Nemo was gone forever.  No more visits to celebrate his birthday, no more silly stories about when my aunt, uncle, and mother were children and got into trouble.  Just a hole in my life where joy had so recently overflowed

WA-1(Emotional Release)-Second Draft

It was approximately 10 months after hurricane Katrina.  My uncle's house had survived the hurricane, but was burned down when a power line fell two weeks after the storm.  We were fortunate enough that everyone was able to evacuate, so everyone survived.  We (my family) were traveling down to New Orleans to visit some of my relatives, but mainly my grandfather.

My grandfather(nicknamed Nemo) was not doing very well. Nemo  had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease many years ago, and his health was slowly getting worse.  Over the past years Nemo had become more and more forgetful.  Whether it was him forgetting an old family members name, or forgetting where he was, Nemo could never completely find his bearings anymore.

When we visited New Orleans it was usually a happy visit during which the French Quarter and other attractions were visited, and Nemo was forgetful, but O.K.  This time visiting was hard, not only because of the state of my grandfather, but because of the state of New Orleans.  It was 10 months after Katrina, and yet boats and other random objects cluttered some of the roads.  Nobody had yet gotten over the loses from the hurricane.  Now on top of this my grandfather was very sick.

Nemo was having kidney trouble and other problems that tend come with old age.  He wasn't taking his medicine, he wasn't sleeping well, he ached everywhere and he just seemed overall tired and depressed.  When we talked to him he would look at us like strangers if he even did look up, and he would hardly ever respond.   Now it seemed like the only thing that could get a rise out of him was "do you want a bacon cheeseburger Nemo?".  Days went on with the status quo.  We celebrated his birthday but he didn't even seem to understand.  We then said our goodbyes, hugged, and headed back to Charlottesville.

We then went back to our daily life with a little more bleak outlook.  I was at lacrosse practice on a friday about a month after that.  At the end of practice my neighbor came with my sister to pick me up. I thought to myself,"why is my neighbor picking me up, wheres my mom?", but I just dismissed it thinking my mom had a busy day and was not able to pick me up.  We got out of the car, thanked my neighbor, and started to walk down the driveway, when my sister stopped me, and told me that Nemo had died earlier that day. I was overwhelmed with sadness. I had never had to deal with death before, except on the news.  Nemo was gone forever.

WA-1(Emotional Release)

It was approximately 10 months after hurricane Katrina.  My uncle's house had survived the hurricane, but was burned down when a power line fell two weeks after the storm.  We were fortunate that everyone was able to evacuate so everyone survived.  We (my family) were traveling down to New Orleans to visit some of my relatives, but mainly my grandfather.

My grandfather(nicknamed Nemo) wasn't in the best condition. Nemo  had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease many years ago, and his health was slowly getting worse.  Over the past years Nemo had become more and more forgetful.  Whether it was him forgetting an old family members name, or forgetting where he was, Nemo could never completely find his bearings anymore.

When we visited New Orleans it was usually a happy visit during which the French Quarter and other attractions were visited, and Nemo was forgetful, but O.K.  This time visiting was hard.  Despite the fact that it was ten months after the hurricane had hit, it looked like it came through the day before we came.  We drove through the areas that were near the levees that had broken.  There were boats sitting in random areas near the road(even though the flooding was over).  The devastation almost  made you sick.  After that we went and visited Nemo.  Nemo looked worse than anyone i had ever seen.

Nemo was having kidney trouble and other problems that tend come with old age.  He wasn't taking his medicine, he wasn't sleeping well, he ached everywhere and he just seemed overall tired and depressed.  When we talked to him he would look at us like strangers if he even did look up, and he would hardly ever respond.   Now it seemed like the only thing that could get a rise out of him was "do you want a bacon cheeseburger Nemo?".  Days went on with the status quo.  We celebrated his birthday but he didn't even seem to understand.  We then said our goodbyes, hugged, and headed back to Charlottesville.

We then went back to our daily life with a little more bleak outlook.  I was at lacrosse practice on a friday about a month after that.  At the end of practice my neighbor came with my sister to pick me up. I thought to myself,"why is my neighbor picking me up, wheres my mom?", but I just dismissed it thinking my mom has had a busy day and cant pick me up.  We got out of the car, thanked my neighbor, and started to walk down the driveway, when my sister stopped me, and told me that Nemo had died earlier that day. I was overwhelmed with sadness. I had never had to deal with death before, except on the news.  Nemo was gone forever.