New Orleans.......

Awhile back the story of my life carried me to the city of New Orleans twice......and it occurred to me recently, that I had never written about the city. Not sharing, what felt like important, and surprising pieces of my visits there....so here we go:) The first piece of those trips was the understanding, that on the other side of them, that it had been so long since I had traveled.....like so long, and I mean more than the adventures I have with my kids....we have plenty of trips and adventures, but what I mean is more real, plane travel, and doing so sans my sidekicks.....and that piece struck me as I navigated all of that after not doing so for SO long.....decades.....and my Taurus gal is a content one too.....a homebody to her core.....and happy to make a delicious, and cozy home, and cozy in, and invite others to do the same:).....but this chapter has been more about me getting out into the world often, in small and meaningful ways, and feeling a real sense of adventure seep into my soul.....and I most definitely for see this chapter beginning to have travel be a larger part of it....and taking my kids with me too:) But the trips I took to New Orleans were without my kiddos....and as soon as I began to sightsee the city, there was a deep resonance and familiarity that I did not expect....like finding another sense of home in the world, and I am a northern gal through and through......and that is deep south, way different than my home.....and yet.....I felt perfectly at home there, and this may sound crazy, but please stay with me......like I had been there before, another life if you will.....and the rich history of the streets not strange to me, but deeply understood.....the French Market being fabulous......and the food.....my goodness....I ate so much lol:) Way past my norm.....:) But it was really good.....and I met some interesting characters throughout my time there in so many places......and perhaps that is what struck me, the people of New Orleans that I encountered, they are also dripping in that rich history and character that the city holds......a depth that is palpable, and that I felt, and enjoyed so much.....it is a beautiful city.....old fashioned in all the right ways, and charming as hell......and I got to learn more about some of the places that New Orleans is more famous for, and the rich history surrounding it.....and I suppose that besides the city touching that resonance piece in my soul, whatever that meant lol:) It also touched my nerdy gal.....the historical piece, and history fascinates me.....it always has.....I used to walk the cemetery with my family at Grey Towers in Milford, and read the old stones, and marvel at lives lived so long ago.....wondering what their lives were like....and the circumstances sometimes of their short and tragic lives.....and well my trip to New Orleans sorta felt like that.....I was captivated by the stories that it had to share.....and I am glad that my story took me there....to experience that city in the way that I did....and I am not sure if this lifetime will hold a place where I find myself there again.....it certainly would make a fun girls trip one weekend, so one can never know:) But if I never do, I am glad I walked the streets there, and got to feel all the energy, of all of the lives past......as I type that, maybe it was that.....energy being my first language, and my intuition having grown so much sharper.....I could really FEEL New Orleans in a way that is hard to articulate......like the deep feeling of all the lives lived there.....the stories played out.....the people that walked the streets before me........the depth of it all, I FELT it.....and I have traveled places in my life, before my travel hiatus, but never felt an instant connection to a place in the way I did there, a place that is so opposite from where I come from....and that experience was enough all by itself......so New Orleans will hold a place in my heart.,....the city captivated me a bit.....and I would recommend checking it out if you feel the call to:) It is a unique and special place indeed!