“Do you know what it means …”

Haven’t been in much of a mood to write about New Orleans, I was in the City as soon as the Mayor began letting folks back in with my daughter to check on her apartment (she lives Uptown and had zero damage), but the City itself did look pretty rough, esp. Lakeside of Claiborne and the Quarter. Been hard to be upbeat; however, the following links and an article my wife showed me in Oprah Magazine have finally moved me to post.

http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-1/113238574335800.xml?nola is a link that was sent me by my daughter, and more than anything else it gives an insight to the ethos of the people who make up NOLA. As an Episcopalian, I’m proud that my denomination’s local Cathedral Church played an important part in helping to revive the spirit of the City. Get me talking sometime and I can explain at length what the “Big Easy” really means to us. Not drunken revelry by any stretch, it’s family, friends, good food, good music, tolerance and friendship, a certain “joie de vivre” that I’ve not experienced any where else in the world. It’s like Grandma and Grandpa’s love: comfortable, relaxed, unpretentious and unconditional.

http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1131518154296160.xml?nola another link the daughter told me about, written about a friend of ours (Phil M.). The Pontchartrain is probably my favorite watering hole in the City, I know “The King” and a lot of the other resident “stool sitters” mentioned and can see and hear them there if I just shut my eyes.

The article in Oprah was about how an extended family dealt with the evacuation. It’s written by a family member who lives in New York City but grew up in NOLA. She too speaks of the pull of the City to those who have embraced it.

So what’s the point of all this? I’m confident (actually have been all along) that the NOLA I know and love will be back and am looking forward to setting myself down at a table in the Bayou Bar on Friday or Saturday night after a delicious meal at one of the many great restaurants in the City (BTW: they are already beginning to reopen), ordering a Cragganmore “neat” and listening to my friend Phil play and sing and if I’m lucky maybe Dianne or “The King” will be there and entertain too. Because, I do, know what it means to miss New Orleans.