A Cajun Nation

It's pretty hilarious to think that my last post was about letting go and yet I spent my entire weekend living by the mantra "Never let go of the rope!" After a successful season the Ragin' Cajuns not only made it to the New Orleans Bowl--they WON the New Orleans Bowl. Festivities began late Friday night (early to bed, early to rise), and I am happy to say that they have still not come to an end. I think the petition for a victory parade is proof enough that everyone in Lafayette is still living the dream.

On Saturday Janie and I made our way to NOLA with lots of red, great music, and full stomachs. We made a few new friends on the drive over and partook in many rounds of "Honk if you love the Cajuns". We even managed to get some vocal practice in for all the tailgating that was to come. ("Red Solo Cup" became the theme song for the weekend. Way to keep it classy Lafayette!) It was hands down the most action packed 24 hours I've ever had...and I wouldn't change a thing! Between the RCAF tailgate and Champions Square there was little recovery time before the big game. As everyone filed into the Superdome it was a packed, crazy, mess of a ton of people you knew. Lafayette must have been pretty quiet because with the record breaking 42,000+ people in attendance (and San Diego having all of only 2,000 people present) there was no body home in South Louisiana! Everywhere I turned I saw a familiar face and yet came home to find out that so many people I didn't see were at the game.

We may have all complained about the missed field goal opportunity and the failure to call pass interference (twice), but in the end the game wouldn't have been half as climactic if the clock would have simply run out. Leave it to Baer to kick a field goal in a last-stitch effort of put the Cajuns over the top. It was sweet victory for the Cajun Nation! I hope they don't mind that I've now become an honorary alum. Below are some highlights. It's times like these that make me so grateful to be from Louisiana! Good friends, good times...Never let go of the rope!

hold on tight?

Sometimes it is only when we take a step back and look at all we have and all that we've been through that we feel most fulfilled. Over the last few months I have moved back to Louisiana to teach, and while a lot of things have happened so quickly, there's a side of it that seems to be moving in slow motion. So why is it that even with such mastery of skill, the transition and change always appear to be looming overhead? It's like you've reached the light at the end of the tunnel...so now what?

For a while now I have been living the routine life of a teacher: up at 5, teaching until 3, working until 9...overtime? And while part of me has bittersweet feelings about work, location, and change, I have recently forced myself to become more acclimated to my current conditions. In mass I was challenged to become detached from whatever it is that I was holding onto. How hysterical is that? I am the queen of holding on. After self-diagnosing (which I have also convinced myself I'm a pro at...and probably do way too much of) I think that I hold on because I fear what will happen if I let go. I don't want "letting go" to mean forgetting, but I've learned that it doesn't have to mean that at all. I was afraid of seeing parts of the new light in my life. I was so comfortable living in memories. Part of change is growing up and moving on, learning to make decisions. Because I'm physically in a different place now than I have been in for the 5 years and still holding on, it can feel like I've been stuck in the never-ending tunnel--like I'm constantly anticipating the light. But when I step back and take a look at all that I've gone through in college and graduate school I realize that I was living in the light all that time.

I miss it incredibly--friends, the city, experiences, and all those lessons learned. And while I want to hold onto it all, I realize that the only way for me to fully accept where I am now is to let go of a it a little. I can't go back in time, but I can certainly go back...to friends, to the city, to experience things, to learn things. I am understanding that detaching just means letting go of the things that keep you from living for today. Once we surrender all of my anxieties and conflicts between past and present, we won't be afraid of today anymore.

So here I am, LA...I detach, I surrender, I'm not afraid anymore.