Terry and Me

These are pictures that Terry and I took yesterday. I thought you all may be interested in seeing him if you have yet to meet him.

Blind Faith

Tonight I find myself doing laundry, cleaning my trailer, and trying to find time to take a shower before it gets too late. It's been a challenging day but I am looking forward to this weekend. I am preparing for a visitor in my humble parking lot apartment.

Awhile back I decided to send an email to my Mom trying to guilt my parents into coming down to visit me in New Orleans. It worked on my Mom but unfortunately my Dad is staying behind to hold down the fort in MI and my sister couldn't make it either. I'll leave the details out other than the fact that I played on the possibility of regret.

My Mom is flying in tomorrow--her first time on a plane since my parents' honeymoon 30some years ago. Forgive me for not remember the correct number. As she asks her coworkers about airport security, the electronic check-ins, and checking luggage between classes at school, I have been sending groups of volunteers into the city to rebuild homes and hope, grocery shopping, preparing meals for 45, and fixing the dishwasher. It's weird that we all live such different lives.

This weekend is really special to me becuase none of my family members have ever been down here. My Grandparents have been in the area but not to see what I've been doing or when I've been here. It is really important to me that somebody understands what I've been doing with my life; I've spent a significant amount of time down here in the last three years. I know that I won't be able to take my Mom to Waveland, MS to show her the tents or state park where I stayed for months or show her the Children's Museum that I worked at but even just a little bit is important. She's only going to be here for two days. I will get to show her where I stay now, she'll get to meet some of our volunteers, experience a home dedication for a woman that I adore, eat at my favorite restaurant, go to a great coffee shop with live music, do Tai Chi at my favorite cafe, go on a swamp tour and much much more.

I am really interested to see her reaction to the devastation that doesn't even make me blink anymore. Many people think that New Orleans ought to be or is put back together by now--three years later--but it's not even close. 65% of the city was rental property before the storm. Now a 3 bedroom apartment that used to cost $650 costs $1500 making it nearly impossible for people to return. Homes have been washed away and demolished. It's still a mess and we have to still care about it--we have to care about our neighbors.

On Wednesday nights we have a local woman from Chalmette come cook for us. The main course is usually Chicken and Sausage Gumbo--the one night a week that I eat meat. She ended up cooking for us because she came with one of her best friends (one of our homeowners) to neighbor night--which we hold every Thursday--and ended up talking with me in the office after devotions. I now spend Wednesday afternoons cooking and chatting with a new friend. Last night her friend, our homeowner, told me that I should stay and live with her since her house is almost done and she doesn't want me to leave. If I didn't have plans for January I would probably seriously consider that offer.

The people down here don't care who you are, all they see is the love that you have for each other and for them, the strangers. They see the careful work that is done to their homes when people work on it as if it were their own. They see people who are so inspired by service and hope that they take a week off from work to come serve in a place that needs healing and requires extreme care. The last few months have placed me in charge of facilitating intentional community, large group cooking, being handywoman, ensuring the safety of up to 75 of my elders, and has given me the opportunity to build relationships with those who live here. When I was in AmeriCorps*NCCC we worked down in St. Bernards Parish but there was hardly anyone around. People were either living in their FEMA trailers or they simply hadn't returned yet so we missed out on a lot of the personal contact. This position has blessed me with the opportunities to make up for that. I have a great network of people down here and know where to go if I ever need a place to stay or anything else for that matter. I've had multiple invitations to Thanksgiving dinners from virtual strangers after meeting them once even though I am leaving before Thanksgiving. This has been an amazing, stressful, challenging, and once again, life changing experience for me and I am looking forward to sharing that with my Mom this weekend.

GUMBO Moments

I don't know who or how many people read this but I think it would be neat if you all could share some of your GUMBO moments with me. Leave them in a comment or email them to me at otoolece@gmail.com Don't feel pressured... just share them if you have any. Thanks.

Gumbo

The other day--to my utter shock--a homeless man bought me food. We have a guy that hangs around the village and sometimes asks for a little food to go. The other day I had lost my keys in the road and he walked up and down the road with me to help look for them which I'm sure looked odd. Sometimes I can tell that God is at work around me. Terry was worried about me because I was stressed out; he came to check on me the next day. He came back later on and had bought Gumbo for me from the place across the street. I tried to refuse it saying “I can’t take that, it’s your money, you worked hard for it, I don’t need it, don’t waste your money on me.” We argued about it until I finally agreed to take it when he was saying “I want to do this for you, I appreciate y’all and I want to do this for you after everything that you’ve done for me.”

Then he said something that made me freeze in mid sentence. He said “I can’t just get and get and get and not give” That was the key. I just wrote about that the other night in my blog—exactly that. I told him to wait so I could print it off for him. I talked to him about it and he said “Nobody ever told me that, I just feel it in my heart.” There’s something about this guy that strikes a chord in me. This isn't just a homeless man that happened upon the village long before I arrived; I am supposed to know him. Jesus is the homeless, the weak and weary, the beggar right? I can’t refuse him when I know that he’s an angel. There’s a reason for me to be here, there’s a reason for Terry, and there’s a reason for GUMBO.

God’s
Unbelievable
Moments of
Blessing and
Opportunity

My journey to New Orleans has taken many twists and turns. Opportunities keep knocking at my door and I am open to all of them. I love New Orleans and would love to stay here but I am on my way to a new, yet familiar, journey in and around Maryland for awhile. I have a strong feeling that I’ll be back in NOLA with time. I float freely and am open to the possibilities and plans that are in store for me. I’ve had a lot of time to ponder what I’m doing and what my life is worth… Everywhere I look there is a reason. Nearly every incident has a purpose and I am becoming so in tune to those signs while I am here. It’s GUMBO.