Light at the end of the tunnel

Oyster, Ashley, Lee de Fleur (aka Dilly) and Berto, pre-game (courtesy LatinTeacher)

I'm still on the high from the game.  I bawled my eyes out, and I still do.  I've been a waterworks for the past 3 days, and finally, it's not from the desperate throes of depression. 

We are the best fans in sport.  We are the loudest stadium in the cosmos.  Nobody comes into our house without a beatdown.  And U2 and Green Day just rocked the house. 

Monday night was beautiful, man.

When I saw all my brothers and sisters (and seesters) in that crowd Monday, I knew we were back.  Not just the Saints back in NOLA, back in the dome.

The city was going to come back. 

An entire group 69,503 people (Atlanta got 500 tickets) that you don't have to explain New Orleans to.  A group of people that get po-boys, that get second lines, that get Carnival, that get red beans and rice with sausage on a Monday night, that get lagniappe, that get "gimme an amber", that will call you honey and darlin', that know home depot like the back of their hand, that can hang drywall in their sleep, that can recommend the best mask for dust and the best mask for stink-mold, that can tell you where to get your flat fixed, that think both gravy and mayo on a sandwich is a good thing, that party Saturday night and go to church Sunday morning and leave the service in time for kickoff, that go to Vaughn's on Thursday nights, that know the game wasn't rigged, that think we are going to the playoffs, that believe that Buddy D and Vera and Sam Mills were watching from up above and toasting the return of our Saints to their rightful home.

It ain't over until you hug the ushers on your way out of the dome.

It ain't over until you fire up the big ass cuban cigar.

It ain't over until your ears quit ringing (Tuesday at about 3:30 in the afternoon).

This is not a sports blog, this is a New Orleans blog.  I care about 2 things: my family and my city, and last weekend I was looking at real estate in the Chicago metro area, because my love for the former makes me consider leaving the latter.  It would be so much easier for me to live there.  I wouldn't have to worry about school districts or mold or my outrageous power bills or my depression or the cracks in my walls or evacuation routes or day care or doctors moving away or universities closing departments or hospitals shutting down or random bullets.

But then, I wouldn't have to worry about living in a city with a soul, either.

Once again, New Orleans is the only city that ever loved me back.  When I was in the dome, I knew why: our people. 

I have to go through da East every day.  I used to live there as a kid in the 60s.  It's toast.  It will come back, but it's gonna take a long time.

But it will.

We need to realize that nobody is going to make this happen but us.  Nobody really cares about us but us.  Sinn Fein.

But we will come back.

We are New Orleans.  The Saints are our face to the world.  We are champions.  Our soul is indomitable.

Who dat, indeed.

Comments

[oyster]

Who's the goober standing behind you?

Thanks again for the ticket and the cubano. I owe you BIG TIME.

Especially since I couldn't deliver on the speedball that nite.

[ashley]

I resized the picture so you can now read the first word of the caption, and see the names of all 4 goobers.

[GentillyGirl]

Beautiful piece darlin', just beautiful!

[Marco]

I can't view the picture, but I really don't need to. The post is more than enough.

[Laurie Bee]

Ashley, couldn't get the pic to come through on my computer. You mentioned someone named "Dilly". Now I am from NO, but have lived in Las Vegas for 25 years and have a very dear friend from NO named Dilly Fulmer. He has visited me. Could this be him? Not too many people named Dilly....

[berto]

God bless you, Ashley Morris.

You are a true hawght.

A dawlin hawght.

We are true bloods. Monday we were in the nation of true bloods.

chilling, over whelming

I can't explain to anyone why the posts are so off kilter from every blogger who attended the game.

It was undescribable. It is undescribable.

What really happened Monday?

You couldn't say.

[slate]

I bawled that night too and tried to explain to a visiting family member why it was so important. I actually found myself enjoying Margaritaville because it was the real "cheap seats" but we were all there in spirit.

As I said in my post, I'm not much of a football fan anymore, but am now and always will be a Saints fan.

Oh yeah, and I've been crying on and off since then too.

It was something. So much more, so much more.

You said it beautifully and now I'm crying again.

[Lisa]

What a great post, Ashley. And what a mouthful in just this one line:
"An entire group 69,503 people (Atlanta got 500 tickets) that you don't have to explain New Orleans to."

I read a quote somewhere that said, "home is where they understand you." That's what it makes me think of. I often get frustrated in trying to communicate what this city means, really means, to people who have never been here. I should know better, but still I try to explain the ineffible. I can fully relate to the joy of being in the company of people who DO know.

I want everyone to know.

[greg]

I'm stealing that picture for my comic. Just so you know.

[Laurie Bee]

Got the pic. Not my "Dilly", but just as funny. Dilly's the kind a guy who find a bug in the ice bucket and instead of giving the ice to anyone else, he fills the bucket with Crown and and drinks it himself....notin' but a bug.....I LOVE New Orleans and miss it sooooooo......funny how we find each other out west. WE UNDERSTAND.

[Laurie Bee]

Sooooo right....home is where they understand you....well said, dawlin...

[dangerblond]

Ashley, have you lost weight? I don't need you wasting away to nothing.

[saintseester]

Hey! I gotta picture just like that. Of course, here, I have to explain it to people. Ha ha. Awesome night, awesome meeting you and everybody else. Can't wait to come back again, only next time, I'm bringing the kids. Time to start the pogram of indoctrination...

[Jonah]

I'm with berto. What really happened Monday night? It was like a dream. So wonderful I couldn't believe it was actually happening.

I think that's how I will feel when New Orleans starts changing in big, powerful, positive ways, like I know it one day will.

My heart is full of love right now. Next game, we really do need to meetup for a toast.

[LatinTeacher]

Clio sent me that pic on Tuesday. I spent Monday laughing and crying and screaming for joy. And when I got that picture in email, I did the same. There is nothing as great as a homecoming. Something right is finally and really happening. And the spirit is uplifted because the Saints are back in their rightful home. Keep up the great work!

[Sophmom]

Great, great post, Ashley. It's hard to put a finger on it, but it was and remains a tearful event. As the days drew down and the media started covering it, every time I'd see something about it, I'd gasp, and tear to my surprise. I only got to see the last fifteen minutes of pre-game because of The Youngest's baseball game, but I blubbered like a baby through them. Then the game started, and I honestly believed that I would not be able to help reverting to a lifetime of rooting for, er, you know, *sophmom whispers with appropriate shame* the Falcons, but that's not what happened. Those 69,503 deserved it. The Saints deserved it. The city deserves it. Still when I talk about it, read about it or hear news stories about it, the surprise tears come.

I'm sorry to hear that you're looking at property in Chicago.

[gentilly rick]

was that lee d' that took 3rd in the channel 6 best dressed fan contest or where there two cats running around in foam fleurs that day ?

[ashley]

Dat was Lee! http://worldclassneworleans.blogspot.com/2006/09/what-i-learned-on-monday-september-25.html

[asianprovocateur]

great post.