“Only New Orleans is real.. [1]
I wanted to tell you about New Orleans.
I’ve been here 9 months (counts ’em on fingers) Yes, 9. I grew up here. I know, a little later than most, but right on time for me. And god do I love my couch. I’m sitting on it right now. It’s this rich jewel teal color, hold on, let me look up what teal is. Yeah, it’s teal. And it’s velvety. And I have 3 pillows to accent it. Accent pillows, if you will. But they’re functional. I’m not in a place in my life where I’d have a pillow just for the look of it. Actually, in New Orleans, I learned that I don’t ever want to have one for just looks. That’s always been true of me. But I didn’t know me until recently. Which is to say I may have ended up being somebody who bought non-functional accent pillows if I wouldn’t have blown into this enchanted city on a mildly warm, mildly cold December wind from Texas.
I love my whole apartment, to be honest. That’s a miracle in itself. How I ended up in this perfect spot is beyond me. I’ll tell you how I did it or how it happened. Or what I can say, anyhow. Because, in truth, most of it is beyond me. Like I said.
I started to look online at places. I must have seen every apartment on the internet. And a few more than that. I saw one of Tennessee Williams’ places for rent & while it was in the budget, it was terribly remodeled and not really a workable space. I considered it anyhow, ’cause, f#. If you haven’t read his work, please do. Truly some of the best writing to come out of a human.
Ok, so I’m looking at all of these apartments. I think I want a 2 bedroom because I have this grand idea that I’m going to host people. I’m going to go from some 3 to 4 years of being a categorical hermit to a revolving door host. Why I thought this I don’t know except that maybe I had an idea everyone should feel New Orleans. They should. Maybe not right now though. It doesn’t feel like itself right now. But I guess it can’t not be itself. Still. I don't think it’s in a place to have guests. Although, maybe that’s what it needs to be in a place to have guests. Guests. Isn’t that true of most things?
Eventually, I called a real estate agent from a sign I saw hanging off a unit a block away from where my Pennsylvania high school boyfriend lives. Nope, don’t know how we both ended up in the same town at the same time, roughly 1,100 miles and 20 years from where we dated. That’s just to tell you the type of things this city can do. You really can’t guess. It’s too good to guess. Anyhow, I set up a few showings.