I’m 19 years old and already a handful of my friends are getting married, having pretty babies, or buying their forever homes. All power to them, but I am very happily single, I can barely take care of myself let alone take care of a child, and I have a balance of $8.80 in my checking account. $8.80 is not even enough to pay the phone bill to call a realtor.
My friends that have fiances, babies, and homes say it’s easy because they love it. They also say when you’re in love, you’ll know you are in love.
Well, I know I am in love with the city of New Orleans.
Everybody loves lists so here’s a list of the many things I learned about love in New Orleans (don’t worry, it’s actually only 5 things, but an important 5 things):
1. When you fall in love with one thing, you start to fall in love with everything. First, I fell in love with the beautiful architecture of the homes; then I fell in love with the flowers that were practically growing out of the homes and suffocating the windows; then I fell in love with the way the streets were inches away from falling into the ocean; then I fell in love with the stray cats that made the entire city their home and each passerby their friend; I fell in love with being in love.
2. Everything becomes beautiful when you fall in love, whether it be with a person, place or thing. Even the dirtiest of dirty things became beautiful after I fell in love with New Orleans. The masks of dirt on my feet were beautiful because it came from miles of walking through the most beautiful streets. The bottle of rum that 3 or 4 worn down men were passing around became beautiful because you could tell it was their favorite part of the day. The cracks in the sidewalk became beautiful after it rained because all of the lone animals were hydrated from water saved up by those cracks. Everything in this city worked together and nothing was out of place. You could even find purpose for the smallest grain of dirt and make it beautiful.
3. When people are in love, they treat life differently. I had never experienced “southern hospitality” until just recently, but now that I have experienced it, I understand it in a whole new light. These people are extraordinarily nice because they love their home and want to share it with you. They don’t just want to hold the door for you, they want to tell you where to eat that day. They don’t just want to help you with your luggage, they want to fill your day with activities for you. They don’t just want to know how you are, they want to know your name, where you are from, how long you are staying and if you want to stay forever.
4. Love can be super small and it doesn’t matter. Love can be as small as talking to a vendor in the French Market and listening to their stories, you don’t have to buy a single thing, listening is enough. Love can be as small as listening to the many bands on Bourbon Street and appreciating the beautiful sounds, you don’t even have to throw money in their hats. Love can be as small as laying in the grass, listening to boats come in from the Mississippi, you don’t even have to stand up to watch, listening is enough.
5. Love is fun. I give you all the power in New Orleans to figure this one out on your own.