"...if rain won't change your mind, let it fall. the rain won't change my heart at all..."

["It's Only Time" - The Magnetic Fields]

so i just got back from a trip to NOLA (new orleans, la).

highlights of the trip include eating rabbit & sausage jambalaya, missing a ferry ride (was closed) but catching a BEAUTIFUL sunset instead (the moon looked absolutely HUGE) and listening to a man talk about the Blues, sitting and reading Isaiah and praying while smoking my pipe in the park in BEAUTIFUL weather, a possibly brain-damaged kitten which was the cutest most snuggleable thing in the world, a roller derby match (!!!), jackson square, the french quarter, the freret st. market (freretstivus!), a kitschy but still cute holiday... thing, got to go to church (FINALLY! been too long since that happened), ahhh so much. so good!

but above and beyond all, and the entire reason i went down there, i met my penpal (and deep friend) of ten years, nikki.

it was magical. she's a lovely friend and incredibly charming, witty, intelligent, an incredible writer, absolutely beautiful, and most importantly she adores Jesus, our Christ. she has such a heart for those in need, it's an incredibly beautiful thing. we had lunch with her parents on sunday, and they were absolutely captivating. they're good people, they raised a wonderful daughter. she and they should be proud of this (although, all good in us is from G-d, so they can't take TOO much credit :).

i also met very interesting people- jac, whom i've known allllmost as long as i have nik.. and karrie, who reminds me of some sort of comic book superhero despite her tiny stature, matt and jen (whom i am incredibly indebted to, as they let me use their apartment-esque third floor to stay in while i was down there). there are many others, but that's just a testament to the strange nexus of wonderful happenings that occur in NOLA.

i fell in love with that city; moving down there is now somewhere in my five-year plan.

it felt for the first time in a very long while (maybe even my entire life) as if i were finally home.