Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

In Baz Luhrmann's inspirational "Sunscreen" speech, he mentions to "live in New York once, but leave before it makes you hard.  Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft."  Mr. Luhrmann, I would like to add a line, "Visit New Orleans once to remind you what your purpose is."  And I'm sorry, it's not to wear sunscreen.  It's to be nice.

As the song title by Louis Armstrong suggests (and title of this post), I know what it means to miss New Orleans. 

Today I miss New Orleans.

Lessons Learned:

Be the minority.  I encourage everyone to go somewhere where you are the minority.  Whether it is race, religion, sexual orientation, politics, etc.  What is the purpose?  To consider other viewpoints.  Have you heard birds of a feather flock together?  We stay with "our kind" sort of speak because it's comfortable, but we can learn more from those that are different.  It may strengthen our values, but hopefully, it makes us more open-minded and considerate of everyone.  More times than not, Joe and I were two of maybe four Caucasians in any given area.  I had never been in the minority in terms of skin color.  As I mentioned this to Joe, he said, "Look around here, no one cares or notices....except for you."  Hmmm, maybe it's not the minority or majority of anything after all.  Life was just easy in New Orleans.  People are just people.

Always use your manners.  I like to think that I have manners, but not as consistent as the people in New Orleans. The phrases: Please, Thank You, Excuse Me, Yes Mam, Yes Sir, were ever-present.  Simple manners made me feel respected and important.  After a few short days, Joe and I were using our manners consistently, even to some grouchy Chicagoans who didn't reciprocate.  Hopefully, the manner train will be headed to Utah and stick around for a while.  (I bet the folks of New Orleans send out Thank You notes, haha). 

Be proud of where you came from.  Since the people of New Orleans were beyond friendly, I used this opportunity to ask people about the city and their life.  Every single person we talked to were so proud to tell us that they either moved to New Orleans or that they are from New Orleans.  They love their city and their city loves them.  Some of them even got emotional over their investment in this great town, especially when Hurricane Katrina came up (and it came up a lot).  Many of the citizens felt that the rest of the world turned their back on them, but they were there for each other.  Remarkable.

Never Forget.  Hurricane Katrina Memorial.

Get back to basics.  Cell phones were never an issue...I just didn't see them in New Orleans.  Cars were used sparingly...people just walked.  The time out whether it was at the French Market or dinner was quality time.  You appreciated the company you were with and the activity that was taking place.  There was no rush to go on to the next thing or talk to someone that wasn't there.  I loved the face-to-face interaction and the small town values. 

Love the skin you're in.  Something that Utahns do that is different from the rest of the world is the whole pajama thing.  We wear our pajamas outside of our house and in public places. In New Orleans and the rest of the world, that is a no-no, and honestly, for good reason.  I was thankful Joe listened to me our first morning and did not go to breakfast in the hotel in his pajamas...everyone was dressed for the day, far nicer than I ever thought of being in the 90+ temperature and humidity.  But I digress; there were all shapes and sizes in New Orleans but no one was pointed out, treated poorly, or judged for looking a certain way.  What I loved the most is that everyone swam in our hotel pool regardless of body type!  Soooo many people at home talk about how they "don't have a swimsuit body."  Forget that!  If you want to swim...swim!  Feel confident and love who you are, inside and out.



You're never too cool or too old to pose in ridiculous costumes.

Make each day count.  The day we were headed to Chicago, it was a down pour in New Orleans.  We stayed in our room for as long as we could, but then we needed to head out; we didn't have a car, and we were quite reluctant on how to spend our day outside.  As we were passing the hotel lobby, the kind valet said, "Isn't the rain just glorious!  You two will surely enjoy your last day here!"  I looked at Joe and from that point forward, we enjoyed our day...our attitudes were lousy, not the weather.  Rain is rain, but New Orleans waits for no one.  We shopped, ate lunch, and even went and stuck our feet (my flip flop) in the Mississippi.  Every day is important.

Just ask.  I use this phrase often in my classroom, as I first read it in the book, The Last Lecture.  If you ask, there is a 50% chance that it will occur and a 50% that it won't.  But if you never ask, you have a 100% chance that it will never occur.  Man, this should be the motto of New Orleans.  Ask and you shall receive!  I asked the policemen on horses at Bourbon Street if I could take a picture with them (I didn't know the horses would lick my hair).  "Of course!" they said.  We asked if we could sit on the roof at an Italian restaurant.  Poof!  Our wish was granted.  In line at Cafe Du Monde (the line has a typical hour wait), a couple came up to us, mentioned that they were standing in the wrong line, and if they could get in front of us.  We paid it forward, and let them in line.  Sometimes all you have to do is ask.

Ask and you may receive a lot more than you bargained for :)

Be nice.  If you have seen any of our New Orleans pictures, many of them have both Joe and I in the photo.  We didn't ask anyone for this.  People simply saw two people, one camera, and they all just walked up to us, took our camera, and started taking pictures at random locations.  This is where we met the best people of our trip who all taught us to be nice and pass it on.


"But trust me, on the sunscreen [be nice]."