Iconic Cities
Blue waters and glass beads...
My husband and I have raised our children in two of the most iconic cities in the United States: Honolulu and New Orleans.
That sentence still surprises me when I write it.
While much of the country is busy recommitting to New Year’s resolutions, New Orleanians are doing something entirely different. We’re preparing for Carnival.
In New Orleans, we don’t really have New Year’s resolutions.
We have Ash Wednesday.
Life doesn’t reset here, it cycles through festival seasons.
In Hawaii, by contrast, summer stretches on all year, even through winter rains.
I remember the very first day I moved to Hawaii from Louisiana and thinking this is so different and yet also oddly familiar.
The differences are obvious. They’re written into the landscape.
Louisiana, in my mind, is all color and texture, deep greens, rich browns, muddy water, moss hanging heavy from trees. Hawaii is pure blue. Endless, layered, waters in different shades of seaglass colors.
But then I started realizing…
Seafood matters in both places, just different kinds.
People ask where you went to high school, not college, in both cities.
In Hawaii, families live together under one roof.
In New Orleans, families live together on the same block. Community isn’t theoretical in either place.
One of my daughters carries Honolulu in her bones. It is home in a forever way. Her heart belongs there.
The other is unmistakably New Orleanian. She loves the city and creativity that this city seems to produce.
What makes this even more interesting is that they were both born at Cedars-Sinai, in Los Angeles with their first three years on the road of different film sets.
Albuquerque.
Lake Oswego.
Dallas.
Then two rental homes in New Orleans before we finally decided that Hollywood South could be home.
And later, an ocean away, in Hawaii.
I’m deeply grateful that my children got to grow up inside two cultures that are so distinct, yet so rich in tradition.
The differences are beautiful:
Glass beads versus seashells.
Boat rides in both places, just on different waters.
Alligators versus sharks.
Crawfish boils versus Kauai shrimp.
Mardi Gras parades versus surf competitions.
Jazz halls versus luaus.
Beachy sunsets versus lakeside sunrises.
Beignets versus Malasadas.
Bayou versus ocean.
Not better or worse, just different and beautifully so.
If I’ve given my girls anything lasting, I hope it’s their ability to recognize that home can take many forms, and to understand that culture isn’t something you visit, it’s something you live.
Thank you New Orleans and Honolulu. Both iconic, formative and forever part of who we are.
Invitation: My new Skool group is live! You can join it here.