It's just a portion of your life

Words of wisdom from that genius, Jenelle.

Jenelle and I have been friends for, well, it seems like forever but I guess it's only been about eight years.  She's from New Orleans, her whole life.  We used to work together.  We also used to play together.  Solid partner in crime.

She moved to New York about a year or so before I moved to San Francisco.  Of course we stayed in touch, and of course madness ensued when we would visit New Orleans at the same time.  We once got kicked out of a bar at three am for asking what the difference was between the mozzarella sticks and the fried cheese on the appetizer list.  We weren't trying to be rude.  I think the bartender was having a bad day.

So anyway, as I mentioned, Jenelle is as solid as they come.  Both times I was in N.Y. recently, she showed up to Take Care of Business.  This last time, when I needed help taking bags and bags and bags of crap to Goodwill, Jenelle showed up with a van and came upstairs.  I had just been looking around thinking, "Fuckin' A.  This is a lot of shit.  I'm not sure if we'll be able to get rid of all this today".

Jenelle came in, gave a brief inspection and said, "All right.  Let's do this!"

We got everything downstairs and filled the van in record time.  The parking gods smiled and we got a spot with time left on the meter right in front of the drop-off center.  Unloading was twice as fast.  Plenty of time left for pizza and beer.

Jenelle: "So dude.  You coming to NY to stay for a while?"

Me: "Yeah dude.  I like it here.  If I want to keep the place, I've got to move in, at least for now.  But fuck, man.  I love New Orleans.  I just got back.  I really hate to leave."

Jenelle: "I hear ya, man.  But dude.  It's just a portion of your life.  It might be three months, three years, whatever.  It doesn't have to be forever.  If I thought I was going to be gone from New Orleans forever, I'd go fucking insane.  We can always move back.  We WILL move back."

Yeah.  I knew that.  But something about that phrase.  I liked it.  It rolls around in my head all the time now, when I'm driving back from New Orleans East and get stuck in traffic, or I'm drowning in a sea of dysfunction at work, or feeling sad about leaving a place I love for an undetermined amount of time.

Dude.  It's just a portion of your life...