Cindy's birthday

Today is Cindy's birthday. It is also the fourth anniversary of the landfall of Katrina on New Orleans. I think to a certain extent that Cindy still associates her birthday with the tragedy that occurred on that date. It was traumatic and continues to be something which is a running sore on this country.

Unfortunately, the whole experience illustrates the differences between the haves and the have-nots in life. The parts of New Orleans which were relatively wealthy recovered relatively quickly and are mostly back to where they were before the hurricane. But the poor parts of New Orleans still suffer from the damage that occurred on August 29, 2005.

Last year, Cindy and I went to Louisiana to visit her family. One morning we drove into town from the communities north of Lake Ponchatrain and came in to the city so that you could see the houses that still suffer from the damage. It was beyond the normal state of poor areas in this country, because you could still see houses which had been abandoned and houses which were being used, but were still suffering from the hurricane damage. East New Orleans was even worse, because it seemed as if it had been leveled and left to rot. Only the Home Depot seemed like something was going on.

The French Quarter and the Garden District were different. The Vieux Carre was hopping like it always does. It was quite resilient, although it was established on the high ground anyway. The Garden District, to the west of the French Quarter was still doing well.

Before I even had visited New Orleans, I always loved the place. When I was finally able to visit, it was better than I imagined. Those few days in January 1983 with Cindy were magical. We walked around the French Quarter and ate seafood in Metarie. It seemed like a completely different country in many ways.

Whenever I have been privy to a conversation about New Orleans with people from New Orleans, they often talk about the problems of New Orleans: the crime, the poverty, the downward spiral of the condition of the French Quarter and other parts of the city, I must admit that I see that and understand their feelings. But I also see a city which holds an exotic place in American culture. It is a third world country in miniature. Visiting New Orleans is like stepping into another culture. The bad is counterbalanced by the food and the tradition and the music and the idiocyncracies of New Orleans.

Of course, a lot of my love for the city is tied to my love for my wife. In some ways, she is the feminine spirit of New Orleans for me. I can not see New Orleans, the city, without thinking about the fun times Cindy and I have spent in the city, in the country surrounding the city and even the exotic nature that Cindy sometimes shows. I love that brown-eyed girl like I love her city.

Happy Birthday, dear wife.