Bayou Beginnings

I haven’t talked much about my upcoming trip to Louisiana. I will be down south, playing tourist, eating new things and visiting family 2/6/09 through 2/14/09. Honestly I haven’t processed all my feelings about it yet. This is a trip we should have taken a long time ago. I think the delay of this trip illustrates how “un-family” like the Serrett side can be.

Without getting into family drama and secrets too much, I will just say that this side of the family rarely talks. My grandparents have always been amazing. There has never been a time where I did not feel loved and supported by them. They are the best grandparents a girl could ask for, but I don’t think that can be said for their parenting. There is so much about my grandparents that I don’t know. My grandpa has two purple hearts from WWII and I couldn’t tell you how, when, or where he was injured. I am not sure how my grandparents met. I know that there is no better time than the present to ask them, but it seems awkward to start now. Almost as if I am saying “Hey, I know you are going to die soon, so all that stuff I didn’t want to ask before, let’s get it out in the open before it is too late.” I don’t want to focus too much on the “dying soon” part.

So anyways…My sister, aunt, and I are going to Louisiana. I want so much to feel a connection to this place, to feel like I am coming home. I want to get off that airplane and never want to leave. I want to be overcome with the history and humidity. I want Louisiana to become part of me. I can’t explain it better than that. I talked to Andy about this. I asked him, what if I needed to move there? What if I went there and felt all these things, would he move there for me? He laughed at me because the odds of me liking a place that hot and humid are very low. In the end, he said that if I felt that strong of a connection he would move there for me. I would do the same for him, as long as I was able to get a job in said place.

In the end, this trip will probably be like any other vacation. I will enjoy it, but be glad to head back home when all is said and done. That will be fine too! I will make sure to take lots of pictures to share with my grandpa when I get back. He is really excited for Lindsay and I to go down there, and I get the feeling that he too realizes it should have happened a long time ago.