Reflections while waiting for a plane

This time the scene was so different. And it lifted my heart.

Driving to the airport after the first St. Anne's Mission to New Orleans in February, 2005, I was numb. A week of shoveling three feet of mud, pulling down mold-ridden drywall, and sifting through families' treasured belongings, ruined by the flood waters had been too much for all of us.

One of my last views of the city, and one we witnessed all week, was the mounds of debris outside every home that had been gutted. Driving down a residential street felt like floating down the Grand Canyon, only rather than beautiful sculptured cliff faces, we experienced cliffs of ruined appliances, sodden clothing and broken toys. It was awful. How could they ever clean up such devastation? How could they ever recover emotionally? Each of the four of us returned sick and depressed.

Today, on our way to the New Orleans airport, where I am writing this, things are very different. There is life and energy in the city again. Every year I have seen restaurants, groceries, and schools back in business. That first year, when things were so tough, I remember seeing a child in a coffee shop and thinking, "My God, that's the only child I've see all week." Now, there are kids playing basketball in playgrounds, and riding to school in buses again. We drove past an art festival and I could feel myself begin to smile. Art and music didn't just show up this week, of course, but the symbolism of a city block covered with white awnings, sheltering artists and art lovers alike from the spring sun, was wonderful to behold, life!

Serious conversation continues, the city has just elected a new mayor, the first change since Katrina. What will happen to the Crescent City? Will natives who want to return be able to come home and resume a cherished way of life? Will the new folks that have come cherish and work to preserve the culture of this proud and quirky city, and at the same time come to terms with generations of racism and corruption? Will the developers and speculators have their way and New Orleans become a get-rich-quick scheme or a big theme park, a caricature of its former self?

Last year, getting on the plane to come here, I noticed how it seemed like everyone in line had on work clothes. An army of volunteers, most of them from religious groups, transformed a city. Will the fervor be there? Was this a training ground for Haiti and the next huge disaster after that?

No one knows, at least not yet. But this I do know - today the spring sun was warm, there were bikers and dog walkers and bird watchers in beautiful Audubon Park. Azaleas were popping. I have just spent the week with a part of the beloved community. This city has changed my life forever, and I believe that I, and thousands like me, have changed this city.

God bless New Orleans.