5 Things I Will NOT Miss About New Orleans

5. Drunk Tourists – Sure they pump lots of money into the local economy but that doesn’t make them any less annoying.

4. Corruption – It is everywhere.  I mean we’re not Chicago, but it’s still pretty bad.

3. Stinging Caterpillars - Each May and June these demonic little creatures come forth.  If you have accidentally stepped on one or even barley touched one, you know how horrible this pestilence really is.

2. Roads – Seriously, its like driving in the hills of Tijuana.  I’m not entirely sure why there are so many beautification projects going on when you can’t even drive down your own block without bottoming out or seeing water come up from the ground. My suspension and alignment are very excited to be in a place where roads are smooth.

1.Summer! – …all seven months of it.  This past year for Halloween it was 84 degrees and humid.  That’s not ok. I know that Nashville will have heat and humidity but come Mid-Septemeber I can breathe easy as opposed to seeking counseling for my anger issues caused by the ridiculously long summers. New Orleans I love you, but May to November is kind of horrible.

Until next time…

5 Reasons Why I Am Not Looking Forward to Nashville

5. I love New Orleans – I really do.  See previous post.

4. Being Landlocked – For 28 of my 33 years of life I have lived within one hour of a beach.  Although I hate sand as much as I hate fire ants and spiders, living near a large body of water gives you a sense of freedom.  Sure Nashville has lakes and rivers but the nearest beach is like 10 hours away. On the plus side, that beach is in North Carolina…and I love me some North Carolina.

3. Making New Friends – Sometimes its just exhausting.  That being said it will be great to meet new people.

2. Tornados…again – I have gone from earthquakes (California), to tornados (Missouri), to hurricanes (Louisiana), back to earthquakes (California), back to hurricanes (Louisiana),, and now back to tornados (Tennessee).  Don’t get me wrong, Twister is a great movie, but I am not super excited to know that each Spring I may have to run to a basement at a moments notice.

and the number 1 reason is….

Well, I don’t have another reason.  Apparently there’s not too much to be hesitant about.  Sweet.

Until next time…

Top 10 Things I Will Miss About New Orleans

10. Festivals – It’s not a secret that New Orleans and all of South Louisiana know how to party.  Each month brings a different festival that celebrates anything from strawberries to jazz music and everything in between.

9. History – A part from Boston and Philadelphia there is no other city that has such a rich and varied history.  It is quite literally everywhere you look.

8. The Beach – There’s a beach in New Orleans? No, but there are some great beaches not too far away.  It was a regular activity for us to go spend the day in Bay St. Louis, grab a hot dog, and hang out at the beach for the day.  It’s not Seal Beach, Malibu, or even Pensacola but for us it was perfect.

7. Mardi Gras – If you are, or have ever been, a drunk tourist during Mardi Gras, you missed out on how great Mardi Gras really is.  I will miss gathering with friends on the neutral ground laughing, screaming, catching throws, and eating copious amounts of food.  But..I got my shoe from Muses, so I guess I can move on.

6. Sno-Balls – They are not shaved ice…they are so much better than that.  Soft sno completely drowned in your particular favorite flavor mixing to make the perfect warm weather treat.  My favorite will forever be Satsuma with marshmallow cream from Hansen’s.  I will miss these glorious things so much that I’m trying to figure out a way to open up a Sno-Ball stand in Nashville.

5. Christmastime – Christmastime is one of the best times in New Orleans.  From free concerts at the cathedral, to Celebration in the Oaks, to the bonfires at the levee – Christmas New Orleans style embodies what is great and unique about this city.  As an added sentiment, Leanne and I began dating at Christmas time.

4. Food – I will not be the first nor the last to proclaim the culinary awesomeness that exists in this city.  Keep a look out for my upcoming favorite New Orleans restaurant post that will be coming soon.

3. People – Not just the friends we have made but the fourth and fifth generation cajun, creoles, and New Orleanians as well.  Always ready with a good story, a funny anecdote, or a family recipe these resourceful inviting people have made this place home for me.

2. City Park – It might seem strange to be emotionally invested in a park, but I really am.  Not one week went by without me spending at least a few hours at this place.  It was here that I shed off close to 90 pounds as I ran the old golf cart trails or the path around the Big Lake.  It was here that we could go have a picnic.  It was here that I would go and think and/or pray.  I am sad that I will not see the master plan come to fruition but City Park will always be my park.

and last but not least…

1. My church family – Journey Christian Church, Hope Christian Church, and my friends in house church are filled with people that I simply can not say enough about.  I will forever be grateful for the friendships, encouragement, patience, grace, and partnerships that were experienced with so many beautiful people.  I will miss you most of all.

Coming Soon….

-5 Things I am not looking forward to about Nashville

-5 Things I will not miss about New Orleans

-My favorite places to eat in New Orleans

-A farewell letter to a city I love

Until next time….

Top 10 Reasons I Am Excited For Our Move to Nashville

10. Hockey – I love hockey and I will finally be living in a city again with a pro hockey team.  The Nashville Predators, I don’t know you yet, but I will – and since I can’t possible root for the Tennessee Titans (Go Saints!), I will most assuredly root for you.

9. Career and personal advancement for all three of us – It is one of the primary reasons we are moving after all.

8. Nature – Its everywhere.  You can be out in the country in about 15 minutes from almost anywhere in Nashville.  There are lakes and rivers that you can actually go swimming in, we are only three hours away from The Smokey Mountains, and there are greenways and hiking trails, literally, everywhere.

7. Music – I’m not a big country fan, but did you know that although Nashville is the country music mecca it also has a ton of other musical offerings?  It’s true.  Rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, christian, and a whole lot of stuff in between.  This is also means we can finally get Tara and Raz to come visit us which brings me to….

6. New Place to Visit for our friends and family – There is always an open spot at The Lytle House and you all know how I love to play tour guide.

5. Closer to some family – We will be within driving distance of everyone on Leanne’s side of the family.  This is the first time this has happened in our marriage.  Also, Nashville has more straight flights then New Orleans does to Los Angeles which makes getting home to my family easier as well.

4. Friendly People – Seriously, every time we have gone to Nashville we have encountered the friendliest people. It’s not just our opinion either…they were ranked. It’s actually a little terrifying in a way, but its kind of nice as well.

3. Cultural Activities – Having so many Universities has enabled Nashville to offer a ton of cultural activities.  Theatre, ballet, art museums, history, science centers, symphonies, and a ton more ensure that our family can continue to be unsheltered.

2. Dollywood – Technically not in Nashville but you know what I will be 2.5 hours away. Why is this important?  You must not know me.  My first crush was Dolly Parton and for many years I have wanted to go to Dollywood.  Mock me if you will…I can handle it, but mark my words, by year’s end I will be posting about my visit.

And my number one reason is….

1. SEASONS! – We will finally be living in a place that actually has four seasons.  We can watch the leaves change colors and go to a pumpkin farm or apple picking.  We can bundle up and actually wear scarves and hats and even occasionally play in the snow. We can watch the brightness of Spring actually come forth and, for the first time in a long time, I might not despise Summer…because in Nashville, Summer doesn’t last 7 months.

So those are my Top 10 reasons I am excited for our move to Nashville.  Up next, my  Top 10 things I will miss about New Orleans.

Until next time….

Moving to Nashville

One of my favorite proverbs has been Proverbs 19:21.  It says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” This particular scripture has continued to be foundational in my life.

Over the course of the past three years God has challenged Leanne and I in ways we could not have predicted.  We have grown as individuals and as a family, not because we tried to make change happen, but because we got out of the way to let God do what He wanted.  We moved back to New Orleans because we knew that is where God wanted us.  In my own ignorance I tried to figure out and fill in all the reasons why, and so I made a whole lot of plans. Plans that, as most of you know, did not come to fruition.  After our first year here it was clear I needed to take a step back. I needed to rest in who God was and what he wanted to do in and through us, rather than inform him of what we were going to do for Him.

Now here we are, 3 1/2 years later, on the brink of a new chapter in our lives.

World Market has asked me to relocate to Nashville.  After much prayer, discussion, and listening we have decided to accept this offer.  Making this move will be difficult for us because of our love for New Orleans, but Leanne and I know this is the right next step.

Over the course of the next few weeks I will share some of the things we are looking forward to as well as some of the things we will miss, but for now we just wanted to let our family and friends know that we have landed on a decision.  Many of you have been apart of the discussion and prayer and we thank you.  We continue to ask for prayer from everyone as any transition has its stress….chief among them finding a place to live. 

Our love for New Orleans will always exist and we will always do whatever we can to serve this city, even if from far away.

Until next time….

 

 

Ignorant people

Every day I am bombarded with ignorance regarding NOLA and Katrina.  People speaking to things they know nothing about…Take Craig from California. On the topic of New Orleans being back he says,  ”A whole bunch of lazy, uneducated, violent, criminal black people sitting around cashing tax-payer welfare checks, smoking crack, pimpin women, stealing, assaulting, killing, etc.Welcome back New Orleans!”

SERIOUSLY!? And that’s not even the worst that comes across my screen.  The core issues, that lovely individuals like Craig continue to site, are things such as – blaming the Corps of Army Engineers – expecting everyone else to do the work for us – and it’s been five years get over it.

First off – If it were not for the failure of the army corps of engineers the levees would not have failed in the first place.  Add on top of that the fact that they did not take responsibility for it until like 2 years ago…and yes there is a lot of anger.  That anger stems form the breakdown of government on all levels in regards to the evacuation process, the levees, FEMA, and a myriad of other things.

Secondly, No one here expects the govt to do anything for them.  Every person I know in this city is so eternally grateful for all of the help and love and grace that people throughout this country showed and continues to show.  I know 10 people off the top of my head, all encompassing different races and economic levels, who got screwed by insurance companies.  So they went to the govt who was offering help.  These ten individuals barely got help.  They were told help is on the way..it wasn’t.  So they rebuilt themselves and in 4 of their cases are still rebuilding and still living in trailers.  No one is expecting a handout…what was expected was that just as in any disaster that the govt. on all levels would follow through with the assistance that was needed.  If it weren’t for the gumption of the people here and the extreme generosity of others, very little would be done. So we trust people just not the govt.

Lastly, it’s been five years, get over it. – I honestly don’t know how to respond to this because I think my anger would get the best of me,  Let’s just leave it at this…when your life, your families life, and your friends lives are all destroyed – then tell me to get over it.

I am biased, true.  I lived here before and through Katrina.  There are still people that I have no idea where they ended up.  I still have scars, and above all else I love this place.  I don’t expect people to “get it”.  I don’t expect people to care as much as we do down here for our community and our lives.  What I expect is that people would conduct themselves with common decency.  That people outside of this city and entire gulf region would put an end to the ignorant ramblings.  And that if people really want to know…then do the research, come down here and I will introduce you to a whole lot of people that can give you the reality of Katrina.

I’m gonna go pray now so as not to be consumed with anger.

Believing in something greater

I think, within each of us, there is this desire to believe in something greater than ourselves.  We join clubs or fraternities.  We latch ourselves to a favorite sports team (Go Saints!).  We join churches, synagogues, masques, and other such institutions.  And we put our ideologies firmly on the shoulders of leaders making believe that we are some how apart of what they are doing.

This innate desire drives us, inspires us, comforts us, and at times it crushes us.

We have been living in New Orleans for 7 months now and everywhere I look I see people who are crushed because the “something greater” turned out to be pretty dang ordinary, or it just didn’t deliver.  The truth is, that it doesn’t matter which city we live in…if you take time to see people…and I mean really see them, I think you will find that all around us are people who are sad, or frustrated, or angry or lonely with nothing to believe in.

Right about now you might be thinking to yourself…thank you captain obvious, which is a fair statement. What I am saying is nothing new or ground breaking. My question is, what are you going to do about it? My belief in Christ will always be the lens I see life through and what I see is the church missing the boat on simply offering people hope to people who don’t believe in something greater.

In your city and in mine there exist a need for people of hope and grace and truth.  Christians who will come down from their lofty places and do something to actually care for the people around them.  It’s easy to go to church…but its whole other thing to be the church.

Until next time…

“Promise me you’ll come back”

It was a beautiful Mid-February day. The sun was shinning brightly from above, save for those times when those large gulf coast clouds would pass lazily in front of it. This day was different than most days that we spent in The Quarter because it would be our last. You see, early the next day we would be driving what remained of our new life up to Missouri. Having been married for only four months and after having gone through Katrina and a painful job loss I needed to move on. It was just too painful and I was incapable of dealing with that pain. So I figured the best thing for us to do was to leave and start over…or run and hide…take your pick.

We walked from the French Market up Gov. Nicholls and I watched as a man was finally taking the boards off of his windows. He was somber. Not sad, or frustrated, or even relieved…he was just somber. It was as if there was no other emotion left that could be conjured up…he was just to tired. I guess everyone was tired…drained…numb. We made a left on Bourbon and even though it lacked the familiar stench the street normally emitted it still had its share of tourists milling about from bar to bar and club to club. Seeking a good time oblivious to the thousands of people still seeking their lost friends and family.

We headed back down to Jackson Square for some lunch and after watching my mother in law flirt with our waiter at lunch (those hand grenades will getcha every time) our family friend Tara and I set out to take some pictures. It was on this last little quest to capture life, or what was now life, that I ran into hope and conviction. I was roaming Chartres heading back from the Ursuline Convent and then made my way back up to Royal and while I was still on St. Philip St I heard it. Loud, jubilant, jazz.

It was the Krewe of Cork. The Krewe of Cork celebrates all things wine, food and fun and they were taking part in their annual Royal Street Stroll. As a crowd began to form I couldn’t help but begin to tap my feet to the infectious beats pulsating from the trumpet and snare drum. A middle age woman standing next to me had tears in her eyes as she leaned into me and said, “It’s so good to hear that sound again”. She asked me my story. How she knew I wasn’t a tourist I’ll never know but as I began to tell her my story and as she shared with me hers I realized that even though we didn’t know each other from Adam we were inexplicably bonded together through shared experience.

As I was getting ready to say good-bye she asked me what was next and I told her we were moving. She grabbed both of my arms and looked me straight in the eye and told me that I couldn’t leave. The city needed me, she said, needed us…all of us. It was in that moment in that random encounter that I felt the conviction of my own selfishness, but it was too late…we were moving away. She gave me a hug and she took her Krewe of Cork throw off her neck and put it around mine and she said just promise me you will come back. “Promise me you’ll come back”, she kept saying. “Promise me, you have to come back”. Now close to four years later we are going back. Going back to the Crescent City, the place we fell in the love with, we are going back.

You know, I still have that throw that woman gave to me. It’s in my camera case. I have kept it as a reminder of a promise I made to a friend I never knew I had. I kept it as a reminder of the broken beauty that is New Orleans. I kept it as a reminder that the plans God has come to fruition. I kept it because that cheap plastic strand of beads stands for something greater than itself. Something few could understand…resurrection.

Resurrection of a city, of a people, and of a shared dream.

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? I do, but not for long…