Home Sweet Home

This is the Marriott we stayed in several weeks after the flood and houses under 14-18 feet of water.

Ahhhh, walking into our squeaky clean home (thank you darling), kids almost asleep on the couch running to hug and their mom and receive their anxiously awaited gifts...it was a beautiful evening coming home from New Orleans after four days away from the people I love the most. The trip was nothing but spectacular. The conference was a tremendous success as I had the opportunity to speak to over three hundred people about the music I write and program I developed that brings music into the Montessori classroom. Colleen, my CD and book selling diva used her charm and wit to handle the droves of people that would run to the merchandise table after each session. She was a master of the sell. There were so many highlights. Renting a car and driving to Baton Rouge where we did a session in the temple there, driving through the poorest of poor neighbourhoods that were decimated in the Katrina Hurricane, enjoying the Cajun food and jazz and the friendly people and the French Quarters oh, it went on an on. My favourite part of travelling with Colleen is the talent she has for the foreign accent. When we were in New York, her ability to talk like a New York city cop was uncanny. For the past four days her New Orleans drawl was more than my sides could manage. She is probably one of the funniest people walking the earth today. After a few days we will put our pictures together and make a little show. I'll warn you, neither of us like our pictures taken so you might think it wasn't even us that was there!

A Little Lesson:
Three months after the devastating hurricane hit, the people of New Orleans were allowed back to their homes. There was no home sweet home experience for them. They came back to dirty, destroyed homes filled with all of the their belongings gone or ruined. Things simply floated away. Spending a few days in a community that has experienced such a tragedy on such a grand scale brings a reverence to all who come to witness for themselves what happened. So many of them were not bitter or angry but rather grateful and unified as a community as they put the broken pieces of their lives back together one by one. It was inspiring to me over and over again.