New Orleans: Why I Stay

At some point in my early adult life I realized a few things about life. I found out that I can overcome hardship if I don’t let it get the best of me and take action. I learned that most events in my life happen for a reason that I am unaware of until after the fact. I realized that I can live almost anywhere and find the good in each place.

In January 2004, my husband, who at the time was NOT looking for a new job, showed me a printout of a job description. He said, “It is located in New Orleans and sounds perfect for me. If I could get the position would you move to New Orleans?” Living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the time, I was apparently suffering from cabin fever. Knowing that New Orleans was somewhere in the deep south and probably not cold that time of year, I gave him a semi-perky “Sure!” That is all the incentive he needed. Two weeks later he was on a plane down here to interview and by Mardi Gras he was working! I had never even visited New Orleans before. Having always gotten Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana mixed up when it came to geographic location in the US I didn’t even realize it was next to Texas! I remembered reading a book once that took place in Louisiana and the main character constantly complaining about the humidity. I remembered watching the movie Ya-Ya Sisterhood and the young ladies always trying to stay cool. I remembered my Grandparents visited once and came back with a cookbook with words I couldn’t even pronounce or didn’t know what they meant like roux, jambalaya, gumbo, creole, and etouffee. My husband wanted to take a trip down here once and I scrunched up my face and said, “Isn’t that the place with all the weird food?” I wasn’t interested. Needless to say, it was the last place I thought I would live.

And then it happened. I moved down here April 4, 2004. It was freezing rain the day we left Pittsburgh. We arrived at our new house in New Orleans and all the flowers in our front garden were blooming, the grass was green, the sky was as blue as ever, the sun was out and it was seventy-five degrees! Imagine my delight! That first night in town my husband took us to the now non-existent Patio Grill on Lakeshore Drive. There we were dining outside, listening to live music, admiring the beauty of the lake and watching the sunset. We toasted our new life in the south. I sat back, sighed and said, “This is like being on vacation.” My husband laughed and said, “And this is where you live now!” I had just stumbled across a well-kept secret.