New Orleans Helped Me Find My Inner Crazy

I’ve been playing around with travel posters (I got the idea from NASA), though this week’s “tour” is a real place.

We lived in New Orleans for 18 years. That is the longest place I’ve lived anywhere other than where I grew up (which is a tie, since I went to college at 18). New Orleans is a magical, delicious, frustrating, crazy place to live, particularly for someone who grew up in Wyoming.

I was talking to a friend (who grew up in New Orleans) and telling her a story about visiting Wyoming when some faux Beatles did a concert here. The four guys ran onto the stage and everyone clapped. Politely.

I told my sister, “These are faux Beatles, but they are Beatles. We should be screaming and stuff.”

She looked at me like I’d grown another head.

Because this was Wyoming.

Finally, despite my Wyoming upbringing, I couldn’t take it anymore and I screamed. Pretty soon there were more screams and before the end of the concert, the audience was a “proper” Beatle’s audience.

My sister blamed it on New Orleans and she was right. But here’s what I told my friend:

In New Orleans, I was the most uptight person ever.

I never raised my arms or shouted, “Throw me something, mister.”

Not once in 18 years.

But clearly, it had an effect on me.

Because in Wyoming at the Beatles concert, I was the crazy person. The instigator of screaming.

If I’d attended that concert in New Orleans? I’d have been the one looking for second heads.

My friend told me, “That’s the first time I’ve understood the difference.”

It’s because I lived in New Orleans that I am able to do my Dead Author Live videos (and because of my Wyoming upbringing that they are still hard for me. Lol)

Life shapes us in interesting ways. It’s made me a weird mix of uptight and crazy. What has life done to you? Did you know it is Read An Ebook Day? Do you read eBooks?

I love comments so much that I pick a favorite to receive a $25 gift card from my Zazzle store. The recipient is announced in the first blog post of the new month.

Perilously yours,

Pauline

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