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Wednesday, October 05, 2005
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I'm starting out with some background on my next post, well, because I like my readers to be somewhat informed when they read my long, drawn out posts! :-P
In April of 2002 Chris and I met my mom and stepdad in New Orleans, as he was there on business. They stayed in this huge, old, historic hotel just off the French Quarter, right downtown. I can't remember the name of it, but Julia Roberts filmed a movie there, but of course, I can't remember the name of that either. The only thing that comes to mind is a lawyer movie. Anyhow, it was during the Jazz Festival and convienently we just happened to be there when JB was "rumored" to be playing at his Margaritaville New Orleans location.
Chris and I woke up early that morning, I want to say it was a Thursday, but I'm not positive. We knew we had a task in front of us, but never imagined it would be so much fun. We arrived at Margaritaville at 10:00am. At the time they weren't confirming the rumors about Jimmy playing there, but security in the area seemed awful tight. Oh--and there was a line that was starting to wrap around the building, which was unusual, since the restaurant and store were both open and somewhat empty. We stood in line while my mom and Gene went and did their own thing. It was hot. Very hot. I think it got up into the upper 90's that day with high humidity. We were dressed Buffett casual, but not at all prepared. I had a camera, but we didn't bring food, drinks, chairs, etc..., and there was no way in hell we were going to lose our place in line, as our chance to see Jimmy up close and personal was slowing presenting itself.
As the day went on we became hungry, grouchy, thirsty and did I say hot? We met these really great people we stood in line with. The people in front of us were all doing their residency at the University Hospital in New Orleans. Some were ER docs and a couple were ENT's. They were about our age, so that was fun hanging out with them. Through the course of the afternoon we met the people right behind us in line, Susie and Ralph. This couple was in their 40's, at least, and very high energy and in great spirits, considering the surroundings. They were from Mississippi (if my memory serves me correctly) and were also in NOLA visiting. We talked with them for the duration of...oh about ten hours and eventually walked in with them and surprisingly, my mom and Gene, who held out to see Jimmy.
Once we got in, between 8-9pm, hot, sticky and smelling ripe I'm sure, we were about 10 feet back from the stage, right smack dab in front of Jimmy himself. We saw Sus and Ralph, but in the midst of the chaotic crowd it seems like we lost them. Oh, and when I say chaotic I'm using that term lightly. The fans and, well, not so much "fans", were crammed in like sardines. People were stepping on each other, pushing, drunk and disorderly and just being obnoxious. My mom and Gene eventually left after about the first 20 minutes of the "show". Being pretty much die hard fans we stuck through it and ate when we left, which was close to 11pm. (Oh, and just for the record, I got and orange lei before we went in and threw it to Carlton, Jimmy's big black bodyguard, who placed it on the stage. Jimmy picked it up and wore it! It was so great! I have pictures on disk somewhere, but couldn't find them tonight. That is--if they were salvaged from our water disaster last year.) Anyway, we exchanged email addresses with Susie and Ralph and promised to meet up again.
We kept in touch with Susie and Ralph up until hurricane season of last year, when our computer took a bath and we lost most of the information stored on the hard drive. We didn't hear back form them again, but thought of them often. We especially thought of them during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, remembering they lived in the Mississippi/Alabama areas. I actually posted a message about them on Parrotkey, as far as trying to get the info off my hard drive for their email address, but again, didn't get around to doing the "dirty work".
I got an email from Ralph this afternoon. He was checking to see how we were doing and if we still had the same email address since we had lost touch. He told us he had some sad news, which immediately made me wonder about the Hurricanes and if it affected them. Sadly, his wife Susan passed away suddenly and unexpectedly from complications of a stroke this past June. I took this news incredibly hard, but I'm not sure why. Typically, when it comes to death, unless it's a close friend's family or my family I'm not too emotional, but for whatever reason this time I was. As I read Chris the email over the phone I couldn't control the tears. I think it's a guilt feeling, especially knowing the thought was there but there was no initiative taken on my part to try to hook up with them or even check on them after Katrina.
Below, I'm attaching the email for you to see and as a reminder of how fragile life is and not to forget to tell those friends that you don't see often or talk to as often as you like how important they are to you.
I'm not sure if this is still your same email address but if it is I wanted to say hello and pass along some sad news from my home. My wife, Susan, passed away suddenly in June, it was totally unexpected, she had a stroke that got complicated and we lost her. We often talked about our chance meeting with you guys, and we both thought you guys were great, so I just wanted to pass this news on to you. Hope you are well and I wish you all the best with your new family members. Take care, Ralph
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