"Why do all the coolest cucumbers have to leave?"

[marathoner452]

That's what one of the residents said to me this evening after I found him some of our "Yankee" red beans and some biscuits and greens.  Apparently "Yankee" beans have too many veggies.  (As a general rule, the people who live here like their meat and you know someone's a volunteer if they ask for the veggie version.)  This is the same resident who jumped on the serving line to help me out with the barbeque last Sunday when most everyone else ran off to the Bacchus parade and 150 residents showed up for burgers and hot dogs.  Not that I can blame them for leaving; I wanted to go to the parade too.

The hardest part about being down here will be leaving Sunday.  I would love nothing better than to stay here for another couple of months, but I gotta get back home, I mean, to Maryland, so I can keep working so I can move down here for good in August.  In the middle of hurricane season no less.  I'm the crazy one who wants to move down here and teach and falls more in love with this city every day she's here.  It's delayed gratification.  I just have to wait longer than I'd like to and I'll just keep telling myself that until I believe that's a good enough reason to leave.  Call me at the airport 10 am New Orleans time on Sunday to make sure I'm getting on the plane or I'm liable to stay put right where I belong.

Sugar Park on Saturday night as a going-away present?  :-)

Comments

[cookiesr1.livejournal.com]

Good to talk to you while I was down there, I really liked the city too and want to go back. I'm home now. Would definitely like to meet up with you after you get back to MD. The 10th sounds good for now.

[quick-step.livejournal.com]

I'm still wondering about the lady on the plane who commented on your being back from vacation. Did you two know each other from before, or was she a random, friendly, loves-the-city-and-those-who-volunteer-for-it kind of person?

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

Actually, the vacation line came from Emily's (ratkrycek) second time with Common Ground. I think the lady on the plane was commenting on the fact that I was the last one to get on the plane; I had an unassigned seat so I had to wait for someone to agree to be bumped. She lived in New Orleans, though, so it was like being welcomed back after way too long.