Charming, but single

Note: Coming off of hiatus for a bit. To get some Katrina context, read my posts from a year ago here, here and here. And this one too.

A year has passed and the wounds are still very fresh. I don’t know what to say other than that it is heartbreaking to see a place you love in ruins, to see people on TV suffering and know, “That is in my backyard.”

To hear your family members talk about their homes. Their old homes that were underwater. Their new homes that could never be the same.

New Orleans is a city about emotion and wonder and merriment. And life without it could never be the same.

I don’t have wise words to say or things to offer. I still blink twice when I’m in New Orleans. And rebuilding is hard. Anyone who tells you that it isn’t has never really hit rock bottom.

But the signs of rebirth are around us – like the street cars rumbling down the streets, Mardi Gras and JazzFest, the new roof Superdome, beignets at Café du Monde, mail service, electricity. There is much left to do. Areas of the city look like a hurricane hit there yesterday still, one year later. But in a town that still manages to cheer for one of the worst teams in the NFL, the Saints’ bumper sticker rings true – “You Gotta Have Faith.”

New Orleans, for all your faults and problems and oddities, if ever I cease to love …

For the thoughts, the prayers, the money, the charity, the tears, the food, the donations, the clothes, your love, your support, your attention, the Gulf Coast says merci, mes amis.

Beaucoup.