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I left my heart in Louisiana
Thirteen years ago, my husbnad took a job in Florida and uprooted me from everything that I had known for the first thirty years of my life. For those thirty years, I had grown up in, lived, worked, got married and had my daughter in Louisiana. I didn’t know anything different. I worked with family and I could guarentee that if I went anywhere ‘in town’, then I would run into someone that knew me or knew my parents. I fully expected to live there the rest of my life.
As things go when you make those plans, plans unexpectedly changed. We moved. To Florida. Fifteen hours away from everything I had ever known. Let’s just say that I didn’t take it too well. It wasn’t like we had a choice. My husband needed a job and there was none to be found there. I had always thought that we would move, but maybe to another city within the state. I didn’t expect FLORIDA. The only parts of Florida that I was really familiar with was part of the Panhandle as this is where we would go for vacation. I had been to Disney World once, but seriously, that is just a bubble within Florida, so that didn’t really count.
After the move, Joel started work, Amanda started school and I, well I, got depressed. I missed everything. I missed my family, I missed the food, I missed FRIENDLY people. What people don’t tell you is that when you move to this area of Florida, you might technically be in a southen state, but you live surrounded by people from New Jersey. The Monday after our move, Joel handed me the keys, a map, said, “Everything is in a grid pattern, you can’t really get lost. If you get to the Gulf, turn around.” Uh, ok, thanks, that is real helpful.
Eventually,we settled in, I got my Real Estate license so that I would actually get out of the house, started knitting, met some Linda and Kathleen though a knitting internet group, and started making friends within Keller Williams where I worked. While I began to like living here, I still missed Louisiana, and I still do. I watched in horror when Katrina hit New Orleans, stared in disbelief when Rita took out southwest Louisiana a few weeks later, and more recently, teared up when a gunman changed Lafayette forever.
I often think about what it is about Louisiana that makes me long to go home. Everyone says that once you visit New Orleans, you never forget it and that she calls to you. Well, that may be true, but for me, it is the rest of the state. There’s just something about it.
It’s the friendly people, the work ethic, the willingness to help out a neighbor, or a stranger and expect nothing in return.
It’s the food. You haven’t had lived until you’ve sat outside in the late spring at a table covered in newspaper and a pile of crawfish, corn and potatoes in front of you.
It’s gumbo and LSU football on Saturday and Saints football on Sunday.
It’s the swamps of the Atchafalya, the Christmas Festival at Natchitoches, the hunting in the Kisatchie Forest, the fishing at Toledo Bend, duck hunting in Monroe and Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
It’s zydeco music in Lafayette, gospel music in central Louisiana, and jazz in New Orleans.
It’s family.
It’s home.
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A NOLA Road Trip!
Welcome back to the new and improved Confessions of a Misplaced Southern Belle. A while back, this website was hacked and the only way for me to be able to blog was to move everything to Kiki Mac Online. All of the past 14 years of content is there. Some photos might not be, but the content is there. Now, I have the original site back up and running and am thrilled to say that I am returning to blogging. I can think of no better way to return to this blog than with a a trip home to Louisiana and a road trip to New Orleans and south Louisiana. I flew home on Tuesday (dodging Tropical Storm Bill no less) and today, Mom, Amy, and I headed south. We are staying at the lovely French Market Inn on Decatur.
Ready for our trip!
Top: View from our room, Middle: Our room, and the resident cat, Patrick. Bottom: Courtyard and lobby.
Fountain in the courtyard and lobby.
Mom in the courtyard
Night view of the bridge over the Mississippi.
We didn’t get until until nearly 5:00, so we spent a little bit of time walking around the immediate area.
Streets of the French Quarter.
Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral
St. Louis Cathedral at sunset.
Of course, when you visit New Orleans, you have to talk about the food. Tonight we stopped at Cafe Maspero. The food was great, the service was friendly and super fast.
Amy and I both had the Cajun White Beans with Friend Fish and rice.
Mom had a traditional muffaletta and Amy and I finished up with a dessert coffe.
Amy is REALLY enjoying her Island Joy coffee made with rum and chocolate.
I had a Voodoo Magic with amaretto and Kahlua.
After dinner, we walked the Riverwalk then came back to the hotel. The courtyard is lovely and we spent a good half hour just sitting and enjoying the breeze. Tomorrow we are headed to the Hop on, Hop Off Bus Tour . If you are on Instagram, you can follow me at www.instagram.com/christyclark where I will be posting throughout the day.