In flight entertainment

One of the better perks of my job is having a company laptop. Right now I am writing this on the laptop, somewhere over Texas, or possibly Louisiana. How can one really tell from the little window on the plane? The next few days will be an adventure as I am traveling to Auburn for Doss’s wedding. Fly to Atlanta, rent a car, drive to Auburn, see a town I lived in for four years and haven’t seen in nearly as many. I’m sure I’ll have a good bit to write about. Though since it’s me, the question really is will I.

Speaking of weddings, yesterday was Melissa and I’s two year wedding anniversary. Due to the impending trip and National Night Out, it was not your normal anniversary evening. You see, National Night Out is a neighborhood gathering that a number of places around the country have. It is always on August 3rd. We have missed it the past two years because of the wedding and our first anniversary so this year we thought we would give it a whirl. It was nice to meet our neighbors and to put names to the faces I see almost every day. For instance, there is this little girl across the street that I have seen grow from an infant to a two year old and now I know her name is Sarah. Afterwards, Melissa and I watch our wedding video all the way through for the first time since the wedding. We had a great time reliving the memories including but not limited to, the busted limo, everyone’s face as they walked down the aisle, her father’s jokes about his empty wallet, anything involving Angela the flower girl, Melissa’s crazy cousins, swing dancing with my cousin Chad, the two of us never without a drink, and of course Chris doing the Gator. It’s nice to have a video to look back on to help you remember the night. So much of it is a blur to me. The worst part of the video is having to watch yourself on TV. I’m just not a fan of that.

To my darling wife: Thank you for a wonderful two years. I love you more now than I did then and I really didn’t think that was possible. I look forward to many more years.

I’m pretty such I’ve mentioned it here but it bears repeating. Lately whenever Melissa and I discuss our future, we talk about moving back to New Orleans. Why would I leave such a secure and comfy job as the one I have now? We have a nice life in Austin and certainly aren’t struggling so why change that? Most people are moving to Austin, not away from it. Trying to explain why I want to move from Austin to New Orleans feels a little bit like trying to explain why one would jump from a lifeboat back onto the Titanic. Austin is doing very well, New Orleans … not so much.

(Just flew over Baton Rouge according to the captain. Nice timing.)

A friend of a friend once described New Orleans as a fungus. When you live there it’s not so nice at first but after a while it grows on you and after a while you really can’t get it off. I think that’s true for a lot of people and for those of us that grew up there it’s as if that fungus is a part of us and something most of us don’t even notice. For me, moving away was a way to shine some sunlight on that fungus and see what I really thought about it. Ok that’s enough about fungi I think.

Going to college in Auburn was the first attempt and that was a pleasant experience. Certainly college life is a little different from the ‘real world’ but I think I got a good feeling for what life in a smaller town would be like. It was interesting, and given the right circumstances I think I could spend my life in a small town, but it just felt too small. There just wasn’t a lot to do there and many of the things I expect to have in life just weren’t there.

Austin, on the other hand, has none of those problems. Moving to Austin was mostly a job decision but was also a chance to try somewhere else. I love Austin’s way of embracing new ideas while still hanging onto the older things that make it unique. And I never tire of the scenery. Hills and cliffs and lakes, oh my! It’s a big enough city to offer all the things Auburn lacked, while not being so big that I feel overwhelmed, as I feel in say Houston. Overall I think it deserves its high ranking on all those city lists out there. So why leave?

It’s not home. I miss home.

(Battery dying and plane landing so I’ll have to continue later.)