A full year and a full season have passed since I left New Orleans. I began a journey – a longer one than I thought it would be – of resettling in a new house, in California.

For those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, I have ended up in the East Bay Area, where I went to both college and to culinary school, and where I have a community of long-time friends.

New Orleans, at this moment, is in the height of Carnival season, which will culminate on Mardi Gras, next week. The celebrations and parades have resumed, in full force, after being cancelled last year, and I am feeling nostalgic for the city. I had so many what I can only describe as magical moments there – sitting in the Jazz Tent at Jazz Fest, thrilling to the sound of beating drums of marching bands as they approached along St. Charles Avenue and feeling the excitement as the first neon lit float approach. I’ve eaten meals that were a revelation, and marveled at giant bowing limbs of ancient oaks. I’ve walked past colorful, abundant gardens and landscapes that enchanted and awed me. I loved my charming 140 year old house – a house that delighted me as I entered the front door and was embraced by the vibrantly warm colors – the rusty orange, taupe and salmon. I loved – thanks to its shotgun layout – the view of each room, framed and topped with a lintel, unfolding into the next.

But sadly, I came to learn that one can enjoy, appreciate, love spending time with, and even, truly love something, somewhere or someone, but sometimes still cannot spend the rest of our life living with them. So – it was time to move on.

My new house looks through large picture windows and sliding glass doors onto a tranquil, almost forested, scene. I can sit on my wrap-around deck and listen to the creek that runs just below the the property. In the summer, I sometimes had a little doe who visited near the creek, and I love watching the hawks fly overhead. It is a lovely sanctuary, so I really have to be grateful for each new adventure that life brings, right?

Who knows what’s coming up next in life? But whatever it is, this last year plus’s experience has taught me I must be open to it.