The City

We deplaned and headed out to the passenger pickup area, where I took the opportunity to light-up and stand in the warm sunshine. There was a part of me that couldn't get away from the airport quickly enough, and a part of me that hoped Mom and Sarah wouldn't arrive too soon.

While we waited, my mind turned over our recent email correspondence with Sarah. She divided her time between my hometown of Austin, Texas, and her adopted city of New Orleans. I knew she owned an apartment building in the French Quarter, but had little more information than that about her life in Louisiana. Her emails, though, spoke glowingly of New Orleans and how Paul and I would "love it there."

Her constant cheerleading on behalf of New Orleans puzzled me. Sure, I wanted to visit, but... what WAS the deal? I'm a Texas girl, born and bred, with the requisite burnt-orange blood of a native Austinite. How could anyone who'd lived in Austin even consider throwing their loyalties to another city? It made no sense. Sarah had been a longtime friend of the family, and sometimes-ally sometimes-adversary of Mom's in the game of Austin City zoning and politics. Still, it was kind of her to allow us to spend a week in her downstairs Quarter apartment, and I looked forward to seeing her again.

I heard someone call my name, and looked up to see Paul gesturing toward a vehicle at the curb. Ah, there they were. We hugged hello, loaded in the luggage, and drove out from under the covered passenger pickup area into a beautiful warm day in Louisiana.

We drove east along I-5, from the airport in Metairie toward New Orleans proper. Sarah was an excellent hostess and tour-guide, narrating along the way and describing the area as it was post-Katrina. It was difficult to imagine the scene she painted, the devastation and flooding in sharp contrast with the glorious day we were enjoying. Sarah mentioned, almost casually, that before we left at the end of week she would take us on the "Destruction Tour," and just the mention of it made me uneasy.

As we drove along the highway, the city's downtown skyline appeared like a backdrop to the rather unremarkable foreground of neighborhoods and residential streets on either side of the highway. Other than being beautifully sunny and lush with greenery, the city didn't seem to offer any more or less than any other city. What was all the fuss about? I took a deep breath and wondered what we could possibly find to do for an entire week in this place.

New Orleans and I had met, but we weren't impressed with each other.