Like so many, I have always truly loved New Orleans.  The singularity of the place and its people made its mark on me from the beginning. Over the years,  I have had some wonderful memories there - many of them tied to the Gators.  I will never forget my first time in the Quarter- dropped off with a couple of hours to myself, fresh from the plane and not sure what to expect.  Of course, the very first thing I ever heard when I got out of the cab was "I betcha five dollas I can tell you where you got dem shoes."  Relieved of the burden of five bucks, I went for a walk. Bourbon Street was awash with humanity like it always is.  I had several drinks and walked and looked. As I walked around Jackson Square and onto some of the lesser known streets, I was hooked. 

For a short time, I had in-laws who owned what may be the city's best known restaurant.  To say they were wonderful people is an understatement. They treated me like a son.  They introduced me to the best food in the world.  And the most genuine hospitality.  I cannot remember a time that I was in their enchanting house in the Garden District when there wasn't a pot full of gumbo on the stove, next to the rice and basket of french bread. 

Thank you New Orleans for your rich Catholic history and beautiful churches, for introducing me to the muddy Mississippi river, for turtle soup and shrimp sardou, for beignets and chicory, for milk punch and bananas foster, for eggs hussarde and creole grits.  Thank you for muffalettas at Central Grocery, for poboys at Acme Oyster House and for Mother's debris.  Thank you for Pimm's Cups at The Napolean House, for ouzo at The Old Absinthe House and at the revolving bar at the Monteleone, for Dixie Beer at Tipitina's and for Witch's Brew at The Dungeon.  Thank you for fanatics and for beads and for making your own gravy.  Thank you for Marie Lavau and for voodoo dolls and pins. Thank you for Takee Outee.  

Thank you for The Neville Brothers, Pete Fountain and Fats Domino, for Professor Longhair and Harry Connick.  Thank you for Lil Bob & The Lollipops.

Thank you for the Sugar Bowl, for allowing me to cheer Two Bits with Mr. Edmondson as I walked down Bourbon Street by his side when we finally made it after all those long years of waiting.  Thank you for the toasts with Swammie and a hundred brother and sister Gators at Pat O's in celebration of Gator football in all its glory.  Thank you for the best football game I ever saw, for a National Championship victory in the epicenter of the party that is college football. 

But more than the party - more than the food, the drink and the crowds from out of town, thank you for your indomitable spirit. Thank you for not packing up and moving North.  Thank you for romantically believing things can be the way the were before, only better, rather than applying the cold logic of the pencil pushers and bean counters.  Thank you for allowing this simple symbolic game to take place even in the face of the muck and the darkness which deserves our truest attention and effort. Thank you for persevering. For your faith.

I have not been to New Orleans since the Deluge.  But I will be back.  And in the meantime, I will give what I can in the name of the memories you have given me.  Tonight, I will raise a toast to Jeremy and Booty and the Brennans and the man who took  my five bucks and all the rest of them.  Tonight, for a night, I am from New Orleans. 

Go Saints!   Laissez Bon Temps Roulez.