Day 1: Kyle to NOLA

I

Day 1 Quote*: "The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of mysticism. It is the source of all true science." -Albert Einstein

*We're doing this like an OB course, and picking a reading for each day. You're welcome, Kurt Hahn.

I only got six hours of sleep, but I woke up with a lightness I haven't felt in awhile. There really is something liberating about hitting the open road. Still, the hours between 6-8am were a bit chaotic--burnt pancakes, tears about saying goodbye (I mean, like maybe forever goodbye) to our old dog, ChaCha, tears over lost summer reading books, packing the car without daddy (who at the last minute found out he couldn't come on the first leg of this trip due to a work training). Needless to say, I stayed calm, and the sight of the sunflowers growing wild by the side of our house (amidst the overgrown weeds), felt like the perfect metaphor: that out of the mess often emerges something spontaneously beautiful.

So, travel mug in hand, we piled in to Homer (our Honda Odyssey minivan) and drove away. We took a new route using Waze, which was like having a little mini-fuzz buster in the car: "A police vehicle has been spotted ahead"--thank you, fellow drivers!

We solved the tear-stained mystery of the lost summer reading book by stopping off at Brazos Books in Houston to pick up The Catcher in the Rye, among other goodies. The warmth and nerdiness of an independent bookstore put all of us in a good mood, and we rolled away reading. I smiled, and thought, "I'm glad I'm raising readers."

With the kids quiet and immersed in far away worlds, I was able to take three work calls in the car (hands-free, people). I chatted with an MSW student at the University of Oklahoma who I am going to mentor, consulted with a therapist on some AT research she is working on, and finalized plans for a former foster youth in crisis. I didn't resent these calls at all, even though I am "on vacation," because I cherish the freedom of an office on wheels, and felt like this was a good use of my time in the car.

There wasn't much to look at out the window at first, except oil refineries and coastal farmland, but when we hit the Atchafalaya Basin, that was when it got fun! Driving over the swampland looking for alligators and birds, watching people fishing and wondering just how hot and humid it actually was out there, made the miles pass quickly. The kids talked, asked lots of questions, reflected on our time in Taiwan...it was fascinating what an utterly reflective space it became for us all.

And then, after several bathroom and snack breaks, we rolled up to NOLA, and laughed aloud when Wendell said, "This is a really pretty city, in a dirty kind of way." I swear, that kid says out loud what everyone else is thinking. We drove past colorful rows of shotgun bungalows, some gentrified and fancy, and other decrepit and abandoned. We made a U-turn onto St. Claude Avenue, a busier street than we're used to staying on, and found the house we rented on Air B-n-B.

We unpacked the car, and chaos ensued about who would get what bed, who would sleep where, and where we would eat, but again...drumroll, please...I stayed calm. We ended up setting on Red's Chinese, a hipster Asian-fusion joint, right across the street from our house.

 Everyone found something to eat, which is always a win for the Nortons--despite the the fact that everything was fried, which left us all feeling a bit full and bloated afterwards. We behaved like snooty restaurant critics, making comments like, "They were a little heavy-handed with the sauce," or "The eggplant just wasn't seared enough." Cracked me up. Most kids would be fine with McDonald's, and here are my three, giving out Zagat ratings.

 After finishing our meal with "Chinese donuts" (think donut hole), the walk back afforded a bit of breathing room, and a chance for Mahalia to show Wendell how to suck the nectar out of a turk's cap blossom. We also stopped to admire a mosaic mural right across the street from our house. We all agreed it was the perfect Instagram photo. haha.

Will and I dropped the girls off and headed to the grocery to pick up a few items. The train blocked our way to the foodie, organic market so we headed to the nearby Family Dollar instead. There, we encountered a more eclectic, less hipster, less gentrified group of folks, who were so warm and friendly. I commented on a woman's nails in front of me, and she smiled and said, "Can you believe they're press-ons?" "No, shit. Really? They look professional," I replied respectfully, holding this benign yet sacred small talk close in my heart.

Despite walking a bit after dinner, Red's Chinese food was still heavy in my gut, along with the tamarind rum punch and pale ale I thought were a "good idea." Instead of beating myself up, I turned to my answer for a lot of things that get "stuck" in my body: yoga. I literally googled "yoga for when you overeat" and found a mellow 13-minute practice that engendered belly movement, breathing and self-compassion. It was amazing to me how the gentleness of this approach helped settle things, in my stomach and in my heart.

We ended our day, Mahalia--talking to her best friend on the phone (sigh)--and Will, Wendell and I cuddled up on the sofa watching "Get Smart" with Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway. When Will and Wendell weren't fighting or kicking each other or taking each other's blanket, we actually laughed a lot and had a good time.

There is nothing to note that is super special about the day except it's ordinariness, and it's calm. Yet, I know in my heart, these are the things I need the most right now (even while careening at 80mph to far away, novel places).

Now, I can hear rain falling on the roof and the gently muffled snores and breathing of my three children in the other rooms next to me (think shotgun house), and I feel at peace. I miss Billy, but I feel his love and carry it with me, quite like a tank of oxygen.

And so, even though you're not nearly asleep yet, goodnight New Orleans.