Full disclosure: The writer of this is my father. He's not one to get caught up in football, but he loves his children and I remember him taking me to Saints games as a child in Tulane Stadium. He and my mother have gotten caught up in Saints fever.
Below he details how the pure joy he's seeing in the city, with everyone unified around one cause, reminds him of an event 64 years earlier.
I think this is a telling tale of just what this Saints season has meant to people. Please feel free to post your memories by adding a comment below. I'm sorry, you will need to register, if you haven't already, to post. That helps keep out those wanting to post inappropriately.
My wife and I are enjoying this celebration, but only through the filter of TV.
It reminds me of another great event in my life when I was able to experience first hand an unbridled joy in the streets of New Orleans. It was sixty-four years ago and the entire country, not just New Orleans, had gone through about four years of great hardships and suffering. There were gold stars in windows all around town (meaning that household had lost a family member in the armed services), one almost directly across the street from us and another about four blocks away.
We knew both families. Then the news came and my memory just can't recall clearly the initial clamor throughout the city. I seem to remember bells ringing for a very long time from all churches in the city and with that joyous peal you might hear at the end of Mass on Easter Sunday. With no TV, but relying on the radio, we got the wonderful news. The long wait was over. It was VJ Day.
I had heard all the reports about downtown celebrations about six months earlier on VE Day and just did not want to miss out this time. I pestered my mother to go to Canal Street and, uncharacteristically, she agreed to take me. I was a few months shy of 13.
We took the Freret Streetcar downtown, got there after dark, and just walked Canal Street. On this part, my memory is clear - It was buzzing. Newspaper venders still sold their papers along the street and were harking the headlines. The street was crowded and there was mass euphoria. Groups marched arm and arm, including servicemen, and there was dancing along the street. An overwhelming feeling of love prevailed. We did not stay long, but long enough to soak up a memory for a lifetime.
I never expected to see anything similar, but with this great win, I can see parallels and similar feelings. This is great.
To add a comment, please register or login.