friends in low places

So I just heard this old Garth Brooks song on the radio (my first country song I ever did like) and I thought with all of the flooding and low elevation here in my great state what a great title for today's blog :)

We are coming up upon six (yes six for those of you who knew us when we were packing our boxes with Katrina news on in the background) years of living in the Rouge. With our original game plan of no more than four years here and hopes of moving back closer to home with a better job for husband, this can be chalked up as yet another bit of evidence that #1 we are not in charge of the "game plan," and #2 He has so much more in store for you than you could possibly ever imagine.

It is true that this place does feel like (as the narrator on Swamp People so nicely put) "the far corners of the world" sometimes. Street names, town names, and last names (Arceneaux, Naquin, Taliaferro, Fontenot being M's kindergarten teachers last names) did at one time haunt me and made me feel like I was living in a place where my language wasn't going to cut it. However, after living here this length of time I don't know if I could stand living in a place that doesn't know how to spell geaux correctly and I now would eat a po-boy (fully dressed) over a hoagie anyday.

There is such a sense of pride here. Pride in our city, our university, and the culture of families that I feel thankful to get a glimpse into when people from here willingly, lovingly open their family to yours and make you feel like one of them. I also feel a sense of nothing being taken for granted. Between hurricanes and right now a bulging Mississippi people love what they have today and appreciate each day, knowing tomorrow they may not be so lucky.

If you would have told me six years ago that my husband (one of the most pickiest eaters EVER) would anticipate crawfish season almost as much as college football season or that I would love etouffee, jambalaya, and gumbo (and more importantly be able to tell you the difference between them) I would call you crazy. But even more unanticipated is our love for this place, a place we would be proud to raise our girls in and a place to call our HOME.