Ceiling Unlimited

Yesterday marked my last day of work with the New Orleans Area affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. Our team has completed its first-round project, and will be heading to Beaumont, TX this week to start work there.

I will be honest: I do not want to leave. I came to this realization yesterday afternoon during work, and it surprised me. For a little less than two months, my team has been going through the same routine day after day, week after week, until at one point, the entire project felt like one vastly long and monotonous day. This last week, however, has been different. The group of volunteers that we have been working with have been absolutely amazing; three or four of them had extensive construction experience, so they were able to accomplish tasks quickly, efficiently, and correctly with little in the way of supervision. This might not seem like a big deal, but keep in mind that on a typical week, I have had to spend much of my time checking on volunteers' work and correcting them quite often. Having a group that was able to work as well as they did and do it right the first time was refreshing.

So, I will miss those guys from Vermont, New Hampshire, Michigan, and the US Navy. I'm going to miss Adam and Danny, my awesome site supervisors who taught me how to do both the big things (raising walls, roofing) and the little things (setting nails, shimming). I'm going to miss Chuck and Joy, the future homeowners who currently live in a FEMA trailer behind the site. I'll miss all the awesome college and high school kids who spent their spring break down here building the house instead of partying. I'll miss the church groups that worked their asses off all week (but not the ones that asked me if I had found Jesus). I'll miss the world's best barbecue at a little hole-in-the-wall place called The Joint. I will miss the city of New Orleans itself; not just the jazz clubs on Frenchmen and the cool little shops on Royal in the French Quarter, or the awesome po-boys and red beans and rice at Mothers. Rather, it's the culture and the vibe of the city that I will miss; that indefatigable spirit that insists on its own rebirth in the wake of tragedy. This city took a hell of a hit in 2005, and there is still vast amounts of work to be done, but if there is one thing that I can take away from this project, it is my absolutely certainty that, thanks to the citizens, the locals, and the occasional volunteer, the city of New Orleans is going to rise out of the ashes of Katrina and Rita. It might take a while, but I know that for my part, I will be back.