I arrived on schedule on October 11, 2007. I pedalled 2,097 miles from Times Square in New York to Jackson Square in New Orleans. I have been back now for two weeks and, when looking back, I can think of no other way to have covered that distance other than on a bicycle. It was 2,097 miles of baptismal head-clearing. I got exactly what I was looking for-- the chance to see the change in landscape, people, and attitudes on a daily basis the closer I got to the city. It was also a geographic and mental transition where I had to tell myself that the New Orleans that I was going back to was not the place that I grew up in.
I had returned to New Orleans 6 times since Katrina, but I was merely a tourist to my old identity. I came back from time to time to be the old me for a few days and then return back to New York. Everything from here on out is now my new reality, and I look forward to embracing it fully.
I now feel a completeness. I no longer search and hope. Parts of me feel like I was more a New Orleanian when I was away from the city. Everyday I read articles online from the local newspapers and followed the progress of the city very closely. I wore a fleur-de-lis belt buckle to work in hopes that customers would inquire about it so I could hold a conversation about the city. But I was no more a New Orleanian then than I am now. It was just that being an ambassador for the city made me feel better... and talking about it made me feel at home.
I find that I think about other things more often now. Not because my proximity to the city has made me forget, but because I feel more complete. That void that existed in my heart has been filled. Katrina did a lot of terrible things to a lot of people, but it is up to the individual to find the meaning and purpose in everything, even catastrophe. If it were not for The Storm, I might never have left and learned just how much I loved this place and figured out what I needed to do.
It reminds me of a quote that I once read by someone named George Moore-- "A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it."
