A Little Song of Kismet

A cool and wonderful little instance happened whilst sitting in Cafe Du Monde, on our last day in New Orleans...

Wander into this cafe on any given day and you will find a Jazz musician/singer standing just outside the cafe's patio , serenading and entertaining folk who amble down there for some chicory Au Laite and beignets.

He stands there with his saxophone and trumpet and plays his jazz and blues, wearing his trusty ol hat, and you just know that this man knows Nawlin's and it's inhabitants ( whether they be permanent or temporary ) more then he knows anything else.

And he loves it all. Like a man who is still as in love with his old wife as the day they began their childhood sweetheartdom. His memories of her dewy, youthful beauty melting into her now age-lined and long-loved face. She is even more beautiful to him now.

On our first morning there, we watched as he pulled a $5 bill out of his case, earned from one of his many listeners, and gave it to a homeless man passing by. This struck a chord with Josh so he wandered over and gave him another $5.

On our last morning, we were sitting there, having just polished off our beignets. Josh got up, walked over to him and smiled at me as he whispered something in the man's ear.
Oh I knew what he was up to... I knew which song he requested and prepared for the blushing.

Sure enough, as Josh sat back down, the man came over to us and told everyone around us that Josh had just proposed to me, to the surrounding tables " Awwwwww's", smiles and little congratulatory claps. Then he proceeded to play his sax and sing 'Georgia On My Mind'.

Our song; it was the first we ever slow danced to together. Yes, I blushed...but I kissed Josh anyway and smiled a " Love you ..." to him.

Anyhoo, onto the kismet moment. A moment of recognition and a sense of something not only coming full circle, but of something completing the circle and beginning a larger one.

About two nights before we left for New Orleans, I found an old notebook full of letters to my best friend Lisa. It was started and written when we were 19 - 20 years old. We came up with the idea that we would write a notebook full of letters, in diary style, to each other. Then, once they were full, exchange them and readdddd away. I sat on the couch and reread this notebook titled 'Letters to Toot' until 2am, laughing at things that I had, up until that point, forgotten. Sometimes I laughed so hard I had tears. God, were we gloriously crazy back then.

I read one entry which described one perfect day in time and how, even at the time, I knew it to be wonderfully perfect. One Sunday, in the summer of '94, where I had wandered down to St Kilda beach and spent the day at the market, the beach, The Espy Hotel ( where my flatmate Jonathon worked as a roadie for a band ), meeting and sharing great conversations with a couple of strangers ( at different times that day) before parting ways. Going down to the beach after the band and just floating on the amazing atmosphere of St Kilda beach at night. Wading out into the warm water and lookin up at the moon and thinking of a place that, for some unknown reason, beckoned me and entranced me....New Orleans. I sat on the sand and talked to another stranger about New Orleans and he told me he had been there. The more we talked about the place, the stronger the pull to it inside of me grew.
I wandered up the beach some more, after sayin g'bye to this lad, sat on the sand again and lost myself even more in thoughts of Nawlins.

I believed, at the time, that walkin the streets of The Big Easy was a dream that I would never really fulfill. Akin to my little girl fantasy of being a famous actress one day...
Right then, a couple walked by with the biggest aura of happiness about them, carefree smiles on their faces, their entwined hands swinging playfully as they walked. And they were singing 'It Had To Be You' by Harry Connick Jr.

I remember watching them walk by, having been pulled out of my thoughts by their singing, and feeling ....I dunno how to describe it....as if this was momenteous in the smallest of ways...

Fast forward to present day, sitting in Cafe Du Monde with Josh, after the street musician sang and played our song.

The song he sang next: 'It Had To Be You'.

I sat there and listened and it took about 30 seconds to remember....
Recognition and an amazing feeling of " Wow...." filled me and I looked across at Josh and realized that not only had I really fullfilled a dream, but something bigger was sending me a message that I was where I was supposed to be, and it was smilin warmly...

Just as it did back when I was 19 years old on that warm summer's night on St Kilda Beach.