The One Who Got Away

You left. Maybe you had to, maybe you chose to, maybe life just pulled you elsewhere. But New Orleans didn't let you go—she embedded herself in your memory like a splinter made of jazz and beignet sugar. Every other city feels too quiet, too predictable, too lacking in that particular brand of beautiful chaos. You tell people you're from somewhere else now, but when 'When the Saints Go Marching In' plays, your eyes betray you. The city is patient. She knows you'll be back.