1 August, 2010

Well, we left New Orleans at about 7.
At first, I just wanted to get home at a decent hour so I could go to sleep.
But as we crossed the bridge to get to the other part of Louisiana, I found myself wanting to go back. I really loved New Orleans.

As I typically do when I return home from trips, I was remembered of old ghosts that would return.
I need to re-investigate certain parts of my life. I guess I always do, but I won't have construction work to distract me for a long while.

When I look back on this weeklong adventure, it's almost...weird.
I wasn't close to anybody on this trip again, but like the year before, I could sit down with any of them and have a conversation. New friends were formed.
I remembered what I was missing back in Indy, and who I was leaving behind, but I realized today that I was meant to be somewhere else this week, and that was New Orleans.

We are never placed in places we are not meant to be, in life.

The hilights of the week bring it all together.

The Best Flea Market in the WORLD.
The guy with the glass harmonica.
Walking the streets of New Orleans on a Sunday night.
Bourbon Street.
Seeing the French Quarter the very next day in the still of broad daylight.
That first bite of a beignet.
The story game: "I looked down and saw my wang!", Kelsey and "The War".
The little worksite dog that had more than five names before we settled on OmNom.
Being reminded that it was my birthday ALL DAY.
Taco Night. And my cupcake with the cool candles.
Building the staircase.
Going to the dedication of the completed home two blocks away.
Working with the future owners of the homes we were building.
Patrick. 'Nuff said.
Will Schnabel daring me to drink red gravy.
Seeing all of the Saints gear. (boo!!)
Finding the scariest laundromat in the world. And having fun.
Snoballs at the end of every day.
Holding Aubry up to put in styrofoam and insulation above the bathroom.
Spindles (we that worked on them know that was our undiscovered calling in life).
Line dancing.
Going into the city for the last time.
Dancing in the car.
Daniel Schoch rapping, and his Z-formation.

All those things make the not-so-great moments (like Sheehan's Risky Business moment, falling down, and breaking her camera lens) not seem too bad, you know?

The life I have to return to will work out in its own way and in its own time. It will be a challenge, but I can't run away from everyone forever. And I don't really want to.

People I know need me, not just the people I don't know.
But I realized something I already knew: while a fair few people mean a lot to me, I might not mean a lot to some people. And I can't get upset over that.
People say they love, and people say they need. But do people love because they need, or do they need because they love?

I will no longer let myself cry over broken promises. The broken promises I've cried over are petty and selfish compared to other broken promises that exist in people's lives.
Even if promises will never be totally rock solid, I can always hope for the ones that just might be.

Such strange epiphanies that I make on these trips. Such lessons I learn about myself, all while doing work for someone else.

I said that I was going to return from this trip, 18 years old and a better human being.

I am 18 years old.
And I can only hope that I am a better human being. And I think I am.

Rowdy 5000...
Keep it sleazy.