Crescent City breeze

I've wanted to visit this city for a very, very long time.

Actually, in a former job, my publisher always told me that William Allen White would not want the word "very" used in his newspaper. Instead, he told me (somewhat jokingly), to use the word "damn" instead.

So, I've wanted to visit this city for a damn long time.

I was supposed to come to go to a journalism conference in New Orleans in September 2005. But as we all remember, a little hurricane named Katrina changed those plans, along with a lot of other people's plans, too. 

New Orleans has been on my bucket list for 16 years. 

I got the opportunity to visit this amazing city this week. (And am still here, currently. Very very happy face. I mean, damn happy place.)

Before I delve into the past few days of my life, I want to paint you a picture of what the last 12-24 months of my life have been like.

I lost my job.

I lost my mind.

I recovered from that.

I moved cities.

I got a job in my profession again.

And then I became homeless. 

So, the past 12-18 months of my life have not been the greatest thing ever. In fact, those months sucked. They sucked so bad, I can't even explain how much they sucked.

The suck never stopped. It just kept coming and coming and coming.

But the weird thing about life is that the universe has a weird way of balancing things out when things get out of whack.

Hi New Orleans!

So I found myself in New Orleans right now, attending a conference for public relations employees who work in school districts. It's a national conference, so there are a lot of folks from all over. 

So far, I've talked with other Kansas folks, Utah people, Nebraska, Texas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana, etc. 

I saw this with all of my travel blog posts that I do, but I'm going to say it here again. I have no idea how many parts thishereblog will be. I'm just going to go with the flow here and see what happens. 

My first impression of this city? 

Wow. 

That's all I have right now, literally.

Just wow.

---

Lake Pontchartrain

I will say that there's an Eric Church song to perfectly describe my situation.  

In fact, EFC opened his first song on his Double Down tour with a song called Knives of New Orleans. 

It's never been my favorite EFC song, but I've been listening to it since I landed here and it's definitely growing on me. 

Knives of New Orleans

Yeah, I'd give this last wrinkled dollar

In my pocket that I earned

With a hammer and vice

If I could undo some things

And grow me some wings

Fly out of this quarter tonight

Yeah, tonight, every man with a TV

Is seeing a man with my clothes and my face

In the last thirty minutes

I've gone from a person of interest

To a full-blown manhunt underway

I did what I did

I have no regrets

When you cross the line

You get what you get

Tonight, a bleeding memory

Is tomorrow's guilty vein

Your auburn hair on a faraway sea wall

Screams across the Pontchartrain

I'm haunted by headlights

And a crescent city breeze

One wrong turn on Bourbon

Cuts like the knives of New Orleans

I'm a ghost dodging bullets

In all of these alleys

Just looking for my getaway keys

Wrapped up in the night

Hiding out in plain sight

But this grip's getting tight around me

Ain't no getting out

That I can see

They'll take me dead

If they ever take me

Tonight, a bleeding memory

Is tomorrow's guilty vein

Your auburn hair on a faraway sea wall

Screams across the Pontchartrain

I'm haunted by headlights

And a crescent city breeze

One wrong turn on Bourbon

Cuts like the knives of New Orleans

Of New Orleans

What I wouldn't do

For just one more kiss

I'm all out of time

Honey, it's come down to this

I'm haunted by your hazel eyes

And this crescent city breeze

One wrong turn on Bourbon

Cuts like the knives of New Orleans

I did what I did

I did what I did

I did what I did

I did what I did