We are back from The Big Easy. It was fun. Staying in the French Quarter was an immersive experience. The weather was warm. Music on every street corner. Dancing, singing, and expressions of joy. Artists were there. The homeless were there. People are lying on the sidewalk. This was not always the case, but when you encounter a desperate person who has given up on hope, the images stay with you. The National Guard walked through the Hotel Lobby each day we were there. There was tension surrounding the unknown. The days leading to Mardi Gras have begun. They began on Twelfth Night. King’s Cakes are being baked. A woman sang with a heavenly voice.

We finally got a seat on the Carousel. The Carousel Bar is famous for being the only rotating bar in the city, located at the Hotel Monteleon. The Monteleon is one of only three National Literary Hotels in the nation. Truman Capote said he was born there and has a suite named after him. William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and Eudora Welty spent time at the Monteleon. People waited in line for a seat of rotating bliss. We captured four by accident. The bartenders worked as fine artists. The jazz music played, and everyone laughed with joy at the party. The bartender asked us to shake hands and told us that he saw a lot of people, and he knew we were good people. It was a first for me to be called ‘Good People.’

Watching people is my hobby. People are endlessly intriguing. On Bourbon Street, a little man danced oblivious to anyone watching. Passerbys heard the music, but he heard the heavenly rendition. We went to a Cigar Bar, which is a favorite pastime. Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy were discussed amidst the circling smoke. The Big Easy is like nowhere I have been. There is great joy and profound suffering living cheek to jowl. A profound reaching for God, Heaven, and the Angels. The music is pure, creating joy and tears simultaneously.

New Orleans is not a city of sinners; it is an Oasis of earth angels reaching to touch hands with angels just above their heads. When the hands join, the heavens open, and enlightenment happens.