 Let Us Pause in Life's Pleasures |
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It's a warm, drizzly day in the city. Last night was New Year's Eve. My sister and her fiance and my boyfriend and I ate at Irene's in the French Quarter, which is always a great place to eat. I had some kind of redfish, shrimp, and clam concoction over pasta in red sauce and we shared chocolate gelato with strawberries, which might be the perfect dessert.  St. Louis Cathedral in the late evening mist  Blurry in the Quarter. (Photo by B.) We walked to Lafitte's for a beer then to Jackson Square, where a very bizarre religious display was underway. In the mist, it was surreal -- a giant cross and Jackson Square Jesus and people singing and chanting and waving fists and signs and hands and flags. Meanwhile, one bystander yelled, "MARY WAS A WHORE!" And it occurred to me that with every crazy Jesus or Jesus-hater, New Orleans stays herself.  Jackson Square Jesus Then we drove to Mid-City for the bonfire on Orleans Avenue. There sat a pile of discarded Christmas trees and numerous firetrucks on standby. I guess year after year city officials decide to just let this tradition go on and try to keep it under control. People were setting off bottle rockets and various other fireworks all around us. Between the smoke and heavy mist it was hard to see. There were children and barking dogs and joints and plastic cups of champagne being passed around.  Christmas tree bonfire Finally someone decided it was midnight and the blaze was lit and more fireworks went off on the ground and in the sky and there was kissing and hugging and people running around the bonfire in a circle of celebration like they were saying with stubborn joy, "We're still here. We are still here." My favorite was the man who ran around the fire time after time waving a Louisiana flag. It was beautiful. I wanted to freeze the moment and somehow show it to the entire world. Here's just a neighborhood of people who've been doing this for years and are doing it again in this year of all years. Even on a much smaller scale than in the past and even with my phobia of pyrotechnic displays and even though it was so smoky and hazy that I couldn't even really see what was going on, this event made me proud to be there. I was proud to see these people who still love their home and who still want to celebrate by running around a big fire as if in defiance of the big flood. I felt awed and honored. That might sound stupid, but I really did.  My sister humored me and smiled. (Photo by B.) I grabbed my sister and held on tight, wishing her a happy new year and wishing to hold onto her in that moment in the city that used to be her home while the fire raged on the neutral ground for as long as I could when she was just my little sister and not somebody's wife. (Which is not to say that I do not wholly adore her future husband, because I do. The two of us launched into a rousing singalong with Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There for You" on the way home.) It was hazy and dreamy and lovely and misty and mystical and I looked at my boyfriend's beautiful face in the light of the fire and felt completely alive. This morning we all woke up and ate bagels with cream cheese and Louisiana strawberries and drank juice and coffee and it was nice. Then we basically lounged around in our jammies after they left. I read Anne Lamott and he read his graphic novel and we finally got up and showered and went to eat at Mona's in the Marigny and walked on Decatur for a while. There was a good number of people out in the Quarter, which was a good feeling. Later, I used up all of my letters for the first time in my Scrabble history for an 89-point turn. Of course he beat my ass in the rematch, but I remain thrilled and triumphant that I have finally passed this milestone. It was a great way to start the new year, Scrabblewise. All in all, I am hopeful in life and love. I don't have all the answers or even all the questions. But who does? I mean, really. All we can do is hope to make our selves a little better and the world a little better this year. That's my resolution, anyway.  Happy New Year. (Photo by B.) :::
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