You're A Long Walk In A Rainstorm

Sorry for the double post...my mom sounded sad that I hadn't updated. Mom, if you comment, then I know you actually read the blogs!

Candle light
Ceiling fan
Curtains blow away and back again
Back again
Don't wake me, I think I'm in a dream

I know that I've used these lyrics before, but only in the past few weeks have I really come to know what they mean. Being here is like being in a dream, like living in a movie set, like walking the streets of a novel or living inside the lyrics to a song.

Calling back and forth through heavy air
The barges sound their warnings in the dark
Peace comes like a trusted friend
As it starts to rain again fall away
Fall away

The rain is pounding over my wrought iron balcony. The ceiling fan doesn't move noiselessly, but rather creaks as it moves the humid air through the bedroom. The candles I've lit are a poor substitute for Louisiana air as it rains, but without screens I can't let the breeze in. Instead the flames dance in the path of the fan's blades.

Let go of your fear, let's grow old together
Find a place along the way
Let's reel through the years
Each makes the other better

It's as though New Orleans makes everything right. It puts us at peace, knowing that we belong here. Knowing we can stick it out together, even if we are both too scared to admit it at times. The peace is in the old man sitting on the front porch of the house being rebuilt across the way. It's the way the live oaks drape their limbs across the streets and meet in the middle. It's the fact that everyone you pass on the street smiles and says hello.
Others may think that we're all crazy to live here. It's hectic, it's dirty, it's noisy and smelly and impoverished and, well, about to be washed out to sea. But when you find peace, it's hard to let it go.

WWOZ's on in stereo...

It's on in the kitchen, in the shower and in the hallway. It's life. It's a song come to life and I'm finally living out a song.