Dear Friends and Readers,
It's nearing one year since Hurricane Katrina wreaked ruination and mayhem on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, washing away life as I (and hundreds of thousands) knew it. I'll spare you details (You've seen and read of plenty of pleading, sad and grief-striken dark faces by now.) of what it feels like to really begin anew to re/build a life at 40 years-old. Except to say that, beyond material possessions, it is inexplicable. Beyond (un)consciousness.
Yet despite all, by grace and compassion and love and just pure goodness, Iife has begun to return to normal for me, albeit a different normal. Back at work, back to the gym, back in the kitchen creating, back to trying to start a book club (and failing), back at my desk trying to write/finish the book, back to the daily work of trying to remain a healthy and whole person. Back to life. Back to reality.
But, it's a different world than where I come from. No gumbo, no Mardi Gras, no jazz, no French Quarter, and almost no Negroes. By way of Opelika, Ala., then Morrow, Ga., I have settled in Phoenix, Arizona, in the valley of the sun. Hot, dry, rocky and mountainy, I've gone from the swamp to the desert. Crisis and adventure and my heart brought me here, and (for some amount of time) peace and exploration will keep me put. It's a city where I would have never imagined myself living, yet I could envision it being home if I had to. My life is wherever I am, I remind myself.
How fortunate or lucky I am though. Or blessed.
The love and support given to me by so many--familiar and unknown, near and far--astonishes me still. The list is too lengthy to list here, and I'm uncertain if everyone who helped me would want to be recognized here. So, I'll be a little vague--for now. Assistance seem to come from everywhere: close friends and their (unknown to me) close friends; my ex-boss (my Jewish "mother") and ex-coworkers; would-be lovers and an ex-lover (no, not Tom); friends and "in-laws" long "lost" and acquaintances newly found; the well-off and the barely well; gay and not gay; from South Carolina to South Africa...from people I have no idea of how they found me. All gave generously and warmly. And I am ever appreciative to you all. Thank You and You and You and You...
Almost a year later, I have begun to remake my life from scratch. I'm learning that every thing I thought I needed or wanted, I don't; and every thing I thought was important or necessary, isn't; things are loose, unformed, wet...half-baked. And though I sometimes feel a bit uncertain of what lies around the next corner or on the downside of Camelback Mountain, right now, at this time, I'm at peace in The Valley.
Posted by Darrell at July 13, 2006 11:37 AM | TrackBack