Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

My husband and I just recently returned home from a nine-day trip to our home state, Louisiana, where we had the time of our lives. This trip was planned around my nephew’s engagement party, bookended by family time and some really great food.

When my husband and I married, we were both living in Maryland, far away from our Louisiana roots. We had less than no money…my then fiancé was working on his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, and I was just beginning a job in the legal department of a large commercial real estate developer. While my starting salary was okay and they had paid my moving expenses, I was still paying off debts from a really bad two years of my life. And to add a further complication, albeit a joyous one, our first child was born ten days after our 1st wedding anniversary. To say we were on a very limited budget is an understatement.

While we were very happily married and thrilled with our little bundle of joy, who was followed exactly two years and one month later by baby #2, we just had no money to spare. So, while we managed one trip a year home to Louisiana, either at Easter or Christmas, we missed a lot of family events along the way, most of them happy, memorable things like big birthdays, graduations, engagement parties, christenings, and weddings.

Among these missed events regrettably was my younger brother’s wedding. We had just been home for Christmas to see both our families, and upon our return to Maryland had purchased our first home, so we couldn’t afford the trip down a few months later for his wedding.

We usually found a way to afford flying home for funerals, though. Sometimes, just one of us flew home, like for my Uncle Guy and my husband’s brother Nicky, and sometimes we both had to miss. Eventually we could afford for all of us to fly home for funerals, but we still missed the lighter and happier celebrations of life and family.

A few years ago we decided that we were going to make going home for good things a priority, flying home for the weddings of my cousin’s two sons, a year apart but both in the South. Yes, our children are adults now, and they are both on their own living their own lives. My husband and I recently retired, and while living in the DC area is very expensive, our finances are in much better shape.

This recent trip included a stay with my husband’s brother and his family, a long visit with his sister and her husband, with drop-ins from other members of his extended family.

Tom’s hometown of Amite, Louisiana, is about 60 miles north of New Orleans. While not really Cajun land as it is near the border of Mississippi, the food is very good!

While in Amite, we took a little road trip to Baton Rouge, the state capital, to visit a Catholic prayer center. Sister Dulce of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament is well-known for praying with and for the sick. The grounds are lovely with statues of saints dotted along a garden path.

A pond nearby is home to Louisiana wildlife.

The chapel is beautiful, with a large stained-glass window over the altar.

We then packed up and headed to what is known as the North Shore, a region that sits on the shore of Lake Ponchatrain. We checked in to a Marriott Residence Inn and headed off to Don’s Seafood for dinner. Since it is crawfish season, I ordered boiled crawfish and a beer, and thoroughly enjoyed getting crawfish juice dripped all over me.

The next day we attended my nephew Chase’s engagement party to celebrate him and his bride to be Chyanna. It was great visiting with my brother and sister-in-law and their older son John, catching up on family news and lots of talk about the upcoming wedding. Once again, the food was all Louisiana favorites and delicious!

We had dinner that night with my godchild and her daughter, and it was so wonderful catching up with them, and hearing all the exciting news that comes with being a senior in high school!

We tried a new (to us) restaurant and it did not disappoint. Walking back to the car after the sun set brought a lovely color to the giant oak trees lining the lake, draped with Spanish moss swaying in the breeze from the lake.

From the North Shore, we headed to yet another Marriott in Hammond, the small town situated between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where my husband and I both attended college.

Feeling nostalgic, we toured the Southeastern Louisiana University college campus and found our commemorative brick that we purchased as part of a fundraiser for renovations on the campus.

We also went to Sunday evening Mass at Holy Ghost in Hammond. While the church building itself is new to us, this church parish is where it all began for us. More on that later.

Even though we were only about 15 minutes from Tom’s brother, we chose to stay in Hammond so I could reconnect with friends from my ten years living in Hammond. This enabled me to eat at some of my old favorites, even if they weren’t quite as good as I had remembered.

On our last full day we had lunch with two of my best friends from my Hammond days, both so important to me. Anne and I spent so much time together when I was feeling lost, and it was her straight forward approach to life that helped me find myself again. Susan was my across the street neighbor for a while and she is 100% responsible for me joining a church choir JUST TO MEET A GUY who she just knew was “the one.” That was in 1986, and yes, he is still “the one.”

And the food on this trip! In my essay about Creole tomatoes, you may have read my laundry list of favorite Louisiana foods. Well, I managed to squeeze in many of them in this short trip: crawfish, gumbo (several times), BBQ shrimp (New Orleans style), soft-shell crab, and so much more!

So, now, we are back home. Back to low(er) carb meals, our own bed, visits with our Maryland daughter, Jeopardy at 7:30 each evening, our books, our Rockville church family, things that do bring us joy, even if we aren’t in Louisiana with so many good friends and family. This trip was lovely in all aspects. No funerals, just friends, family, and food.