from last year to this day

Here I am on the roof of the Ogden Museum with the Crescent City Connection behind me. There's a gardenia tucked behind my ear so that I can smell it's rich, sweet scent. There are days when I really miss being home and then I remember it's always with me. I'm grateful that I'll know what month it is this year. Last year September felt like one long extension of August 29th and for that matter so did all the months until I was able to return to New Orleans for Christmas. I'm eager for this new season. Fall always brings with it the promise of a new beginning, another chance. I'm ready to learn. I'm full of too many words. I'm trying so hard to listen, to coax out the quiet moments, the lucidity that comes from patience.

I'll wrap the scarves around my neck and breath in wool and the faint scent of perfume from last year. Hats pulled over ears and short hair. I ache for the bicycle I rode around Hanover, but I'll swipe my Metrocard and ride to Manhattan with the promise of books and the Statue of Liberty. I'm going to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge this fall. I'm going to sing songs from Gifford's roof. I'm going to skip a lot more than I did last year. I'm going to hold my friends's hands and remind them how precious this is. Becky is expecting a baby in late April. Minh's getting married in late October. We're all getting older and hopefully wiser. I just hope I'm moving forward instead of spinning in circles. We do what we can.