It's a two-diary block party! Yasu's opener is here, so y'all make sure you remind folks to come over here.
Y'all know I cant post a diary without saying something. I often feel guilty about being away so long, but I hope you all understand that you're with me now every time I think of home, every time I go home, and every time I tell someone about the beaches and marshes I grew up on. In a way, in that maleable quality of memory, you've all become part of home for me. Even memories of my childhood bring thoughts of you - sitting at the kitchen table last summer, waiting for my chicory to perk: writing you about crabbing and fishing and fireworks, explaining turtle hurdles, talking about days and nights spent on the water - you're all there now, even as part of my memories of childhood.
I was home last month for my best friend's kid sister's wedding. C (present in the Maker's-soaked pictures linked in Yasu's block) was my first love, my only love for a very long time, and we are so lucky to have preserved our friendship for 27 years. As we walked through the Beau Rivage, we chatted about the first time we'd been there for dinner, as college freshmen, when the lobby was still scented with magnolias. And I found myself talking more about all of the friendships I made here than about our old times together. Not a bad thing, of course... but almost odd. I felt like I had to tell your stories along with mentioning your names, and he laughed and said it sounded like I was describing parts of my family he'd never met (and that he liked the sounds of all of you far better than he did Pam). And, you know? He was right.
So here's to you, my Gulf Watchers Family. You're wonderful, funny, talented, amazingly able to decipher crazy mechanical doohickies on the ocean floor, wonderfully faithful insomniacs and early birds all. And you helped make an impossible situation bearable through sharing knowledge and friendship and fun. I raise my Makers in your direction, my friends.
Y'all get to second lining. I might be rusty, but I can start a parade anywhere!
Earl King - Street Parade
The Wild Magnolias - New Suit
The Meters - Cissy Strut
Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Ain't Nothin But a Party