English/340 Creative Writing
Prof. Mary-Beth Brophy
November 18, 2013
Michelle Robeson

In my kitchen there is an orange accent wall. My husband and I spent several hours deciding what type of picture to hang on the wall. It had to be something meaningful that also had coordinating colors. We settled on a painting of Bourbon Street. My husband was born and raised in New Orleans and we spent about 9 months there before we got married so it seemed perfect. The painting is in hues of orange and yellow which remind me of the many sunsets we saw when we lived there, and it’s a corner that we spent many an afternoon drinking daiquiris and listening to the different types of street music that is always is abundance there. When I look at this picture I see the first time my husband brought me to New Orleans, 3 months into our relationship. It was a true test considering we drove from Texas to Louisiana, which is an 8 hour drive. We also stayed with his cousin in her home, which is nerve racking in itself, because as I said, we had only been dating for 3 months at this point. Much to our surprise, the drive went so smoothly. We laughed and joked the entire way, we never ran out of things to talk about and more importantly, we never got on each other’s nerves. When we arrived at his cousin’s home, I was greeted with the warmest welcome full of hugs and kisses; did I mention we had never met? For a first family introduction, it could not have gone any better. My husband spent the entire weekend showing me where he grew up, went to school, lost his childhood home to Katrina, and spent his youth getting into trouble. We spent our mornings at Café Du Monde drinking coffee and eating beignets and walking around the open air market down by the river. Every time I look at this picture, I can smell the coffee, I can hear the stories again, I can feel the sun on my face, and I feel the very moment I fell in love with my husband. The picture also reminds me of that moment just before sunset because of the colors that were used. Evenings and especially sunsets are so lovely down in the French Quarter. The Mississippi River runs right by the Quarter and there is an aquarium, benches, musicians, and restaurants lining it. This photo reminds me of the quiet roar of the city that happens just around this time. There is an energy that seems to flow throughout the entire city, but for me, the evenings are best. Restaurants start to dim the lighting making it more romantic, the lights of the city begin to twinkle creating a warm and romantic ambiance that completely engulfs all that are lucky enough to witness it. The city was built on romance in my opinion because everything about it, from the food to the music, has a sexy vibe to it. I think that was probably the whole point of the painting. I think that the artist must have been a native of the city because they completely capture the essence of the city in such a simple painting of a street corner. It’s simply a corner with a street light and the awning of a club in the distance. Who knew something so basic could bring up so much emotion, but I also think that was the goal of the piece. Sometimes I think that maybe the artist was leaving the bar that is in the picture one night and happened to look around and caught this moment and was just so inspired that they had to commit it to canvas. I also think that the artist could have easily been a musician as well. This vision is the stuff that songs are based on. A night like this one could have been the setting of a great first date or a proposal. A setting like this could have been the making of the moment when someone fell in love or expressed it for the first time. You can almost hear the soft jazzy melody playing on a saxophone. Which brings to life another vision when looking at this picture. A single sax player under the street lamp playing a love song for a lost love or for an unrequited love. The best thing about this picture for me is the memories. I am reminded of the fact that I loved a man so much to leave my life in Texas and everything I had created here, on a leap of faith. I trusted him and believed in him enough to go with him so that he could fulfil a dream that he had. Unfortunately things in Louisiana did not work out as we had planned and we ended up moving back to Texas just 9 months later. But for me, being the alpha-female and type A personality that I am, the act of moving was a huge deal. I left and went to a state away from everything and everyone I knew and tried to make it home. I found a job, though not one that I felt I should have been doing, and I made some great friends there. This painting reminds me of the nights on Lake Pontchartrain with my husband drinking wine and planning our future. It reminds me of my new family and how welcoming and loving hey were to me from the very start. It reminds me of working at the neighborhood gym and meeting the hilarious older clientele that would come in the early mornings, never once actually exercising, just there to drink coffee and shoot the breeze. I called them the Coffee Crew. I am reminded of the staff of the gym who, once they realized I was a definite fish out of water, took me under their wings and introduced me to people my age, took me to dinners, and really worked to make me feel like a part of their team. I am reminded of my husband’s friends, now my friends too, that would call and check in on me whenever my husband was working out of town to make sure I was safe and felt comfortable. Memories both wonderful and sad always flood my mind when I look at this picture and I believe that perhaps subconsciously, that it is the real reason I was drawn to it, besides the perfect color match with my accent kitchen wall.