I’m So New Orleans #ImSoNewOrleans

The Twitter-verse and Facebook have been buzzing for the last couple days with all things New Orleans. No one seems to know who started the #ImSoNewOrleans trend but it’s brought the city together in a way usually reserved for football season. People are sharing childhood memories, old photos of long-gone places and jokes and trends so inside, only someone who grew up here could truly get them. I didn’t. I wasn’t born here and I don’t have a good answer to, “Where’d you go to school?” (meaning which local high school), but I’m so New Orleans that my family owned property on St. Charles in the 1700’s. Okay, that doesn’t help me decipher some of the local references or share some of the memories, but it does make me feel like I’m home. 

Red Dress Run

You really never know what you might see in a day in New Orleans. If you were one of the stunned people I saw pulling into the French Quarter in an airport shuttle on Saturday morning, what you saw was 8,000-10,000 men and women in red dresses carrying beers. The Red Dress Run actually originated in San Diego. That said, their event attracts 2,000 runners annually and the Washington D.C. chapter is attended by about 600 runners in red. NOLA is clearly where the party’s at!

The Saints, live and in person!

Like most Americans, I’ve never been to the Superdome and associate it with the debacle that was Katrina. Sunday, I geared up for yet another game day in the French Quarter. Saints earrings, shirt and slippers – check. Cable working – check. Who Dat spirit – check!

At 1 pm, I asked who was playing and when I heard it was Seattle, I checked my email to see if my friend, who’s involved with the team, was in town for the game at 3 pm. Unfortunately, no, but he’d left 2 tickets for me at will call.

Who Datitude (Mardi Gras 2010 wrap-up)

I’ve wanted to live in Louisiana most of my life. It’s a free country and I could have moved here anytime, but I didn’t arrive until after Thanksgiving 2009. The Saints were undefeated. People were excited to not be losing and harbored dreams of going to the Super Bowl. And the weather sucked – colder than in decades.

I’d timed this move so that I’d be here for Christmas with my family and have time to make some friends before Mardi Gras. I’ve learned that  this is not the dress rehearsal, this is my one and only life. I’ve learned that my perspective on life defines my experience of life. I’ve learned to try new things, embrace the unknown. I’ve learned that the only things I really value over time are the people in my life and my experiences. So, although I was alone for most of the Mardi Gras season, I didn’t wait for my fears to pass or for a time when I knew more people or more of the city, I just dove in and attended over 25 parades.

Lombardi Gras AKA: When the Saints come marching in…

The Saints victory parade was scheduled for win or lose, rain or shine. I even bought an umbrella (I moved here from a city where it rains 34 days a year and we just stayed in those days) and layered my clothes against the  freezing temperature and worse wind chill. Mercifully, it didn’t rain.

My new friend, Heidi, and I had plans to meet but they were ever-changing as she was battling traffic for over an hour. As usual, I walked toward town, but this time I was FAR from alone. It seemed as if everyone were answering a clarion call, spilling out of their houses pulling wagons full of children, coolers full of beer and the occasional ladder-with-a-seat-on-top-with-wheels-for-dragging (sometimes with a cooler inside the seat).  I met a nice man who worked at the Double Tree hotel downtown and we walked halfway together, chatting. People  were parked on sidewalks, in medians, everywhere. It seemed the whole city was showing up.

Men in Drag

Today, my cousins and I attended another unofficial parade. This one was in honor of a local sportscaster, Buddy Diliberto, who said he would wear a dress and dance through the streets if  the Saints ever got to the Super Bowl. The sportscaster died 5 years ago but the former Saints quarterback, Bobby Hebert, who took over Buddy’s sportscaster job,  led a parade of thousands of men in dresses today.