New Orleans

I've fallen in love with a place I've never been before. It's had a very special allure & calling to me for as long as I can remember. It's the city of Nawleens, and I'm planning my visit for 2011.

Originally I planned to go in 2006 for my 25th birthday. We were planning out the dates & getting ready to book hotels, when Katrina hit. Instead of New Orleans I went to the Grand Canyon and had a good time.

Now in 2011 I turn 30, and even with the oil spill in the background, nothing is going to stop me from going. Been doing a lot of research, reading up mostly and watching shows & movies centering around New Orleans. The more I delve, the more I am falling in love.

Perhaps part of my affection for the place doesn't necessarily have to do with the food, music & architecture, but more to do with it's spirit. It's a little gritty, dark, roguish, colorful, fun-loving, artistic, lively and soulful. Most of all, it's recovering with a fighting spirit.

We've all been beat down in our lives, especially now with the recession. Personally we've been laid off, working menial jobs, had our bodies and our spirits broken more than usual these past few years. I feel like I've taken a pretty rough beating, and in some ways I still feel broken. But we go on and we try to live with passion and soul.

I feel akin to New Orleans in that struggle, to regain what was lost, although its not really possible. Sometimes I feel like we must just stay true to ourselves and bear the scar and carry on. It can be so hard to forget the glory and ease of the past. It's difficult to have hope, but life evolves through struggles and we must remake ourselves into something better then our former selves.

It's a little much I know, but I feel like I need to go and see this place which has captured my imagination and soul.