LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL

I’ve been remiss.  What can I say?  It’s been seven whole days since my last entry.  It’s been a dry spell for me, I guess.  Although  I tried on a few occasions to put something together, it never materialized.  So here I am, Monday morning one week later, trying to assemble some thoughts about what has occurred this past week.

Things at work are getting pretty intense.  As we close in on our scheduled delivery date for our software, it seems that every day something goes wrong, so every day is spent putting out fires to keep on schedule, leaving little time to do what really needs to be done.

It’s also difficult in the respect of mentally preparing for the move back to New Orleans, while leaving Linda behind.  We may have a place for her to stay with people we met through church (see my September 25th post) who had previously offered the use of their home.  This is very difficult for me to handle.  I really HATE having to ask for anything like this from my own family, let alone people that I barely know!  It is very humbling, and perhaps that is part of God’s plan.

This past Friday we returned to New Orleans for the weekend, bringing back most of my “stuff”.  Next weekend we return with everything else.  It’s so strange.  It’s similar to all the times I packed up and left to go to sea, but different, too.

Sunday we went to two parades that rolled one behind the other.  The crowds on St. Charles Avenue were about 1/10th of what they would normally be!  It was wonderful!  No problems seeing the activities, plenty of throws (beads and trinkets thrown from the floats) to go around.  H2 and DIL had a great ride, although the landing was a little rough, perhaps a little too much Crown Royal on the journey???

H2’s good friend Angelica visited over the weekend so we had a great opportunity to meet and talk with her.  She is from Columbia and is very nice.  The daughter of one of A’s friends stayed with her, as well.  She, too, was very sweet, and BB just LOVED both of them, immediately!

The down side to this trip is that it leave both Linda and I very conflicted.  While a part of me doesn’t want to leave NOLA, another part wants to go back to Memphis.  It took three tries yesterday evening to find a restaurant for dinner that had only a 55 minute wait.  Each time we come home to New Orleans it’s the same.  There is no visible improvement, really.  Stores and restaurants still closed, many with “for sale” signs.  The places that are open have long lines and limited menus, or supplies, or reduced hours of operation.  I think it is going to be like this for years to come.  Perhaps it’s time to investigate other options in other locales.  

Please pray for Patti and Jerrod and the kids as they prepare for the anticipated new addition to their family.  Please pray also for all of us here in New Orleans and scattered across the South.   We all seem to have issues that we’re dealing with, and not always so well.  We ask for the grace of God to be with us is we continue on this journey that, like it or not, we are in the middle of.
Take care and God bless you all!!  Laissez les bon temps roullez!!