As I fired up my laptop to write this, Tom Waits paid me a visit on my Pandora station and it was “Day After Tomorrow” which, even though it’s a song about a soldier at war, feels really poignant today.

It is, again, August 29.  A very, very complex day to walk around in.

Today, I went to work.  I left early for a doctor’s appointment and helped some tourists navigate the streetcar system on the way. Gave them some advice on what to see Uptown. Later, on the streetcar, these very nice folks were staring out the windows at the beauty of the houses on St. Charles Ave. and listening to a fellow passenger talk to them about history.  Around them, and the other visitors, the car was punctuated by people staring out the windows on their way to daily life things.  They looked far away.  One woman, directly across from me in the back, was on her way home from a long restaurant shift. She leaned back, closed her eyes, and while the rainy breeze blowing in through the open windows tossed her black and purple hair across her face, I saw tears.  Lost in thought, and memory.

After my appointment, I walked home in the dreary-skied rain and finished my workday from the home desk.  Then I went back and read what I wrote about Katrina last year.  I can’t write it again – every single thing I encompassed last year still stands true today: the vibe on the streets, the way folks are interacting today, the expressions on faces, my own memories, the stories of others, and my undying passion for this city.

So here it is again – my writings of last year.  The only difference now is that it has been 9 years, instead of 8:

My Katrina Post, 2013

Also different is that, instead of a pizza and a Thursday night football game on the TV, it is Friday night and it’s Southern Decadence and there is a parade.  So that is where we’ll go, and I’ll dance in the street and love being here and maybe, just maybe, I’ll meet another Octopus.

And if someone tells me their story, I will listen.  And again, I will listen hard.

Love to all.

“Will god on his throne/Get me back home/On the day after tomorrow…And only the lucky ones come home/On the day after tomorrow…And my plane it will touch down/On the day after tomorrow.”  -Tom Waits