A Weekend In New Orleans

Sometimes, life is very odd.

As I write this, I am freshly returned from a weekend trip to New Orleans, the town I was born and raised in; the town I recently moved away from to go back to Houston because I was starting a new life. This is a story in and of it self, one of those quirky little tales that leaves the hearer shaking their heads and saying "wow, isn't life funny?".

Here's the story:  I grew up in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, in an average middle class home. I was blessed enough to have parents who were still married, and happy. I have two younger sisters, one younger by 2 years and one younger by 9, each of whom were total bitches to me as we were growing up, as I was to them. Oh, we loved each other very dearly, we still do and are in that phase of life where we are best friends, but we were total bitches to each other in the manner of sisters.

It was interesting in my house,  especially for my daddy, who was the only man in the house. Mom ruled the roost, she still does, and daddy was your typical dad of his generation; he worked a job, loved his girls and took care of the manly things around the house. I am proud to say that I'm still a daddy's girl, just not a spoiled daddy's girl; we were never spoiled. It's not that I don't love my mom, I do very much, but when I need a hug, or some one to bitch at, or practical advice, I go to my daddy.

So, I grew up in a normal house. I wore hand me downs, I had a few friends and I used to ride my bike around the neighborhood from 9am until the streetlights came on.

Then came the year that I started "Middle School". That's where I started growing up, filling out and feeling insecure and awkward. I fucking hated middle school, even though I started off in full confidence. I honestly still remember how I felt, confidence lent to me through the cool new straight leg jeans and platform sandals mom allowed me, the most uncoodinated person on the planet next to Inspector Clouseau, to wear.

Then I walked into the classroom and learned the painful lesson that there are cute blondes, who have better clothes and bigger breasts. Oh, and then there were the cliques, many, many cliques. Those awful cliques, none of which I was good enough for until the day I met this cute boy.

Or did he meet me first? I have no memory of who met whom first, but I think it was in the disciplinarian's office where I was confined because of a broken leg due to unfortunate circumstances that involved me, a pair of Candies shoes and a stairwell. I think he was a "guest" there. I do remember that he was cute. My standard of cute; which means nerdy, intelligent and mischieveious. His name was Jason.

Jason, apparently liked me enough to introduce me to his buddies, and we became friends. I still smile when I think of Jason, Jennifer, Kevin, Keith, Tedd, Jay, Juan and Mike. Not to mention the antics, or my creative writing phase, which Jason still teases me about.

Oh, those years at John Quincy Adams.

The Adams Gang, which is what I call us now, were and still are a creative bunch. The most memorable was the year we decided to make a movie, written by Kevin and called Idiodyssey. We were ambitious, and the script was too; actually it was very good for a bunch of middle schoolers. We had a camera with which to film. Jennifer and I had the shared female leads, which soothed our vanity, and we got to stuff poor little 7th graders into lockers. What more could a band of mischieveious 7th grade nerdy types want?

Permission to film on school property after hours. That's what we wanted, and didn't have. Jennifer, bless her heart, took the rap for all of us. Mother would have killed me if I'd gotten suspended, which is what happened to Jennifer. That was the end of the movie, which may have catapulted us all to Hollywood and riches. Or not.

I will not go into the Cherry Bomb incident, except to say that it wasn't me, I know who it was, I will never tell and it was AWESOME!

It wasn't all fun and games. I grew up with these awesome people. I could flirt with Jason and Kevin, safely, knowing that they would never take advantage of me. Not that they didn't want to, but we were so young and inexperienced, we'd have had no clue what to do once first base was breached.

I had my first date ever with Jason, to the homecoming dance. I still remember how nervous I was, hoping he'd like my dress, praying that I'd be able to dance without falling over or stepping on his toes. Hoping I'd get my first kiss at the end of the evening, and if I did would I be embarrassed because his daddy would be watching from the car.

Well I managed to not step on toes, found out that there is nothing (well at the time there was nothing) that compared to slow dancing with a young man who had your young heart in his pocket, and that one does not think of your date's father watching when one is about to faint from the pleasure of a first kiss.

Jennifer and I were tight, I remember riding my bike to her house and spending days there doing girly things or just hanging out. Jennifer was, and is, so smart it was scary. She helped me with math, thank God, otherwise I'd still be in middle school.
We were so innocent then. I miss that sometimes. That pureness of heart, when you had the whole world before you but didn't realize it. We wanted to grow up so fast.

High school came, and I was the only one of the gang who ended up at Grace King. They went to Bonnabel, and we eventually drifted apart. I ended up alone again, until I made new friends, and I lived my life.

I married, divorced and moved to Houston in 1998. I made a career here, which oddly enough involves a lot of math, and lived my life as a single mother who didn't really date a lot, and had quite settled herself to the fact that she was going to be that "crazy cat lady" who lived up the street.

Then came Facebook. Then one day came Jason to my friends request queue, and the years fell away. It was like we had just seen one another the day before, and the more we talked, the more I realized that I missed New Orleans and wanted to go home again. I had no clue how to do it, what with a job I loved in Houston and two kids, but one day the opportunity presented it self out of the blue. I had a job waiting for me in NOLA, moving expenses and found an apartment. Jason, bless his heart, spent the weekend squireing me about in his GTO so i could get an idea about how much had changed since Katrina. I knew what I was getting myself into, "Cop Mode" Jason made sure of that.

And so I went home. It was hard, leaving my family here in Houston, but I was determined to do it, and I did. I actually drove a 27' Penskie truck with a tow dollie attached to it from Houston to New Orleans. It was me, my eldest daughter and the cat; it was a BLAST!

Then, one day last September, another childhood friend asked me if he could give my phone number to his best friend, who was single and wanting to meet me. I said sure and that's how I met Mike. Even though we all went to the same high school, hung with the same crowd and dated in the same circles, Mike and I had never, ever met until Spetember 26, 2009. We fell in love and I moved back to Houston July of this year.

I did a lot of growing up during the sojourn in New Orleans, I made new friends and reconnected with most of my dear Adams boys.

Now, I am in touch and friends with all of them again, even though we live in different cities.

Jason, is an accomplished guitar player and singer. Certified Star Wars Geek, Rush fanatic and a Detective Lieutenant in Jefferson Parish. Ironically enough, he used to give anti gang lectures at Adams and as a result became friends with the disciplinarian whose guest he was on a number of occasions. He has an awesome wife, whom I like the more and more I get to know.

Tedd is a gobsmackingly awesome illustrator, who teaches at a community college and publishes "Mathilda, The Forces of Evil vs The 3rd Grade". You need to see it for yourself, it's awesome! http://www.voodoomaverick.com/  You must buy these works of art. Tedd is as cool as he always was, right down to the hair, the tattoos and the black cowboy hat. When I saw him again, earlier this year at a reunion, I cried with joy.

Kevin is the editor of an Atlanta paper called The Sunday Paper...http://www.thesundaypaper.com/  His editorials are witty and typical Kevin. He still looks the same way he did all those years ago, just older and less of a baby face. I am happy to know that he has a wonderful wife, whom I hope to meet one day. I really need to visit Atlanta again. Atlanta is a nice city, i'n spite of the fact that it's home to the hated Falcons.

Juan, sadly, passed away during those years I was out of touch. He died of a rare lung disease. I cry when I think of Juan and how missed he is. He was this funny boy, black, but we didn't care. He had this way of licking his lips and then grinning that made me giggle. He always had something witty to say. I miss him.

Mike takes heart stopping photographs, capturing the beauty of New Orleans. Here's the link to his work, I'll let you see for yourself how beautiful and haunting it is. http://www.magcloud.com/browse/Issue/115896
If I ever get any followers, I urge you to buy his work.

Keith is living in New Mexico, in the city Bugs Bunny always misses that right turn at, and is a black belt. He's a handsome little devil too! His only failing is that he drinks Heinekin, but then again, Jason drinks Bud Light. Ewwww.

Jay is a restaurant manager in Monroe, and he's quiet and laid back, much like he was at Adams. He gives great hugs.

Jennifer, I don't know too much about. I just found her on Facebook and sent her a friend request. I hope she answers it. I want to talk to her again. I know that she lives in the Atlanta area, and is a beautiful as she ever was.

Jason and I, due to us hanging out most of last year, are close. He's one of the things I miss most about living in New Orleans. Sometimes I forget that I'm 6 hours away and have to catch myself when I go to text him to meet me for a cigar at Don Juans. He's my best male friend and he and Mike, I am happy to say, have developed a friendship of sorts. So this past weekend was a chance for them to get to know each other more. I know that Cherie, Jason's wife, likes Mike.

This weekend's trip was fun. I can't believe that I've been away for 3 months already, or how much my life has changed in the course of one year. I was lucky enough to find my friends again, discover that I am an awesome mother, and the Saints won their first Super Bowl the year I lived there.

It was good to go home again. I will do so more often.