Four Days in New Orleans was not enough!

      Our mainland visit was a three state tour where we mostly paraded around our new baby daughter. One of the stops being New Orleans where we spent four nights. My reason for a pilgrimage back to the city I love was so that I could be a bridesmaid in a family friend's wedding. It was an honor I was eager to undertake seeing as I introduced the couple and take sole responsibility (Ashley, the bride, agrees)! What I learned was that four nights was not enough time!
     Despite seeing about 100 friends I haven't seen since I moved (yes about 100) and having ample time on Bourbon Street (1 night was more than enough when you previously lived in the city for 9 years), I found myself missing the thing I knew I would miss most and that is just LIVING there.
    New Orleans is what I consider a big "small" town. What I mean is although it is a major city, it still has the small town feel. Going to the store meant potentially running into some one I know. In fact, the hairdresser doing my hair for the wedding married someone I had a class with when I was a freshman in college. It is a small, small world in New Orleans.
    Not only that, but the connections and friendships I have made are life lasting. My friends accept me as family. In fact, their families accept me as family. They have openly welcomed me into their lives and I am greeted with warmth every time I return. I would like to say that I am special. I am the exception to the rule. They welcome me into their household because I am just that awesome, but I am not. They do it for everyone. Every friend their children have becomes their friends. Then, the lasting friendships turn into family and that is something I greatly miss. I miss that sense of community. I miss that sense of family.
      Sure, Mardi Gras is a blast!!! Bourbon Street has it's moments of brilliance but has mostly faded into obscurity as I got older. The food is incredible (probably the second thing I miss most), but what I truly miss is the since of family that seems to be so embedded in the New Orleans culture.
     I attended school there. I played soccer on multiple teams. I coached soccer. I had a full time job in a big place. I did sorority alumni things and extra work in movies. I took my dogs to the dog park. I have built a whole life with a community that has a since of family and fun.
     It is a side of New Orleans that tourists do not see that I miss most. It is what gives New Orleans that extra spark that tourists see looking in but can't figure out what it is. It is a secret that they keep that outsiders don't get. Some call it Southern charm, but I like to think of it just as family. This is why I consider New Orleans to be my true home especially since it is the longest place I have lived thus far in my life (being a military brat is a lot of moving).

Lots of Love from a homesick New Orleanian,

E.M.