So here we are, sitting pretty on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain – about 30 miles north of New Orleans.  I get to say things like, “you wanna drive across the lake and hang out in the Marigny today?” and shit like that.

It’s weird. I’ve been wanting to live here since I was 18. And now I do. Not disillusioned in the least – but it just hasn’t really sunk in yet I guess.  the whole worrying about money and finding a job thing was a bit distracting. Hard to settle in when there’s a possibility of ending up with the gutterpunks on Frenchmen Street.  But we have jobs now, and paychecks coming soon.  We’ll be living in this fabulous house in Mandeville until January, so we have plenty of time to find a kick ass apartment to rent down there.

 

My fiancee asked me the other day, “So are you happy now that you’re here?”.  Well, I can be happy anywhere with her, but I think she meant “was the wait worth it?”.  I’m old enough now to not be ‘starstruck’ by this awesome city that I’ve been in love with for 22 years, and realistic enough to know that just because I’m here doesn’t mean life is going to be instantly magical.  So when I answered her question, I realized something rather profound.  I think a lot of people who haven’t lived in places like New Orleans (and some who do) have this image of an idyllic, dynamic, artistic playground.  Yes, it can be those things, but when you live somewhere, you have to embrace the reality of where you are – you have to get a job, you have to be aware of how you interact with people, you have to plan ahead… you have to treat it like your home, not like a rental car or hotel room.  I think a lot of my friends may have thought that it was just a daydream for me because I talked about it for soooo long.  That maybe once it became reality it would lose its luster.  But that’s just it – the one thing I love about this city more than anything is that it is so real to me.  On my 10 visits here I never felt like a visitor. I never felt like a tourist.  I’ve always felt that I belong, and now I am enjoying the reality that I longed for.  I can’t get giddy and excited about it, just relieved.  That may seem like kind of a downer if you don’t get what I’m saying, but you’re supposed to get giddy and excited about sports, concerts, amusement rides, tropical vacations, shit like that.  Temporal things. This is my reality, and I am very very satisfied with it.