Happy 40th Anniversary, Mom & Dad!
Tomorrow, June 18th, will be my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. They were married on June 19th, 1966 in Memphis, Tennessee not far at all from where I lived last year. For their honeymoon, they drove all around the South, along the Gulf Coast, and in to New Orleans. We talked about having a big party for them, but what they wanted was to follow this course once again, not only as a celebration of 40 years together, but also to see the coast after Katrina. They were in Jackson on a Habitat for Humanity build, but that was a work trip. This trip is more about exploration, I think. I called Dad for Father’s Day – it took a while for my brain to remember they were on this trip – and he talked about how there is just nothing along the coast from just East of Biloxi on west to NOLA. And he says the outskirts of NOLA are a wasteland. He said that if you squint, it looks OK, but when you focus your eyes, you can see that all these places are abandoned. I’ve spent a lot of time in New Orleans over the years. I can’t imagine driving in without seeing all the normal life alerting you to the upcoming city. If you’re walking down Bourbon Street past Lafitte’s Guest House, look up on the balcony and wave. That’s where they will be. And tell them Happy Anniversary. 
