My father and I, originally from South Louisiana, now living further North, were traveling to look at properties in deep South Louisiana. We stopped at a restaurant/bait shop/boat dock for lunch. As we were wandering around a cleaning station, this pelican lit on the water to grab whatever scraps it could. Soon, he was pushed away by a few dolphins, which I had never seen this far inland, wanting their own take of the fish heads. But, he didn’t leave, he kept coming back.
I snapped a pic, and that was that. A few weeks later I was going through my card and came across the picture and felt something. I felt home again, back in Louisiana, the salt mixed with diesel lingering in the air, the sounds of gulls, the lapping of the murky water, zydeco playing in the distance. I felt…proud…proud that I shared something in common with that beautiful bird…Louisiana.
