All Saints

I suppose it is fitting that today in particular I am really missing Pop. I thought about him quite a bit yesterday since it was All Saints Day and then again today when I really couldn't get him out of my head. It started with an email from mom attaching a picture of James. She noticed a very uncanny resemblance and I sort of have to agree:



And then today was one of those perfectly beautiful NOLA fall days. The sky was blue and the air was thin and clean thanks to cooler temperatures and a burst of low humidity. On top of the picture perfect day, NOLA was vibrant. The Saints are playing the Falcons in the dome tonight and it felt like Mardi Gras or New Year's Eve or Halloween downtown. The streets were packed with people, tailgaters were already setting up as I pulled into the building for work this morning, tourists spilled out of stores and restaurants and on to the sidewalk, and it was all so energizing to see. I know Pop would've appreciated it so much. I know that on a day like today he would have disappeared from behind his desk at lunch time and spent the rest of the afternoon over a long lunch with friends and then strolling down Bourbon Street checking out all of the 'fools' celebrating in the French Quarter. Later on he would have asked me, ironically, 'what they all do for a living that allows them to hang out in the Quarter at 3 p.m. on a Monday' and it would make me smile and I would email my siblings so they could have a laugh.

Pop was a die hard Saints fan and, like all Saints fans, excused their abysmal performances and hoped for something better next year. I know that he would have appreciated the mood in NOLA today, this incredible swelling of pride. I guess I am comforted imagining that he is watching it all unfold, this time from the best seat in the house.