G and I were talking about how much we like that song by Iris DeMent – Our Town – and we were talking about how much it resonates post-K. I was speaking to the new lender the other day while soaking in my tub and telling her a little of my backstory and I laid it out for her in simple terms – I left California after 15 years of wanting to be in New Orleans, my home town, and arrive in May of 05 – and as usual I added – isn’t that good timing? – her response was well it was good you came back when you did because you might not have after Katrina.
Good point, I thought. And again I decided to edit my own self – to quit saying that “good timing” bit – I added that censorship to the other censoring of how I describe the LaLa – not a challenge but an adventure – and living in New Orleans, not an ordeal but an experience – and having undergone a divorce, heart break, and separation from a child I loved (losing three men in one fell swoop) as instead having loved and lost as opposed to never having loved or been loved.
New Orleans is a rare city in a rare time – to be cherished and perhaps not to be understood until much later – years later – decades later.
E was saying to me that I don’t realize how far I have come and that I don’t take into account enough how external factors have colored my internal development – from Bush’s reign, to 9/11 that threatened a city I love and killed family members of people I know, to the tsunami that claimed my colleague’s entire family, to Katrina that tried to remove New Orleans from our lives, to an unwieldy economy after the extremes of the 90’s dot.com economy, to an industry (financial) in flux, an industry (media) in extreme makeover, to being middle aged, to renovating a 100 year old house, well – like I said – there has been a lot going on in our time, in our town.