Life altering. I heard that a lot the weekend before Katrina hit. It's hard to believe that was just one week ago. Other words and phrases I heard and thought about in advance of the storm: catastrophic, devastating, tragedy.

All of those words are reality now for me, my family and hundreds of thousands of others in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Today was the first day that I saw television footage of the storm and its aftermath. I was already overwhelmed with sadness and worry. I didn't think it could get worse but it has.

I wonder where we will end up. I wonder what will happen to all the families that are being taken out of the city we all know and love so much.

I am down right now and so is my city. But I will survive and so will New Orleans. We will both be very different forever.