Happy Anniversary

News cycles are tricky things. Katrina had the misfortune of striking in what, three years later, would be a slight inhale by the news media between ObamaObamaObama and McCainMcCainMcCain.

Perhaps as the candidates, one exhaling--now finished with his nomination, and the other inhaling--preparing to accept his, might take a moment to consider, "What should I get New Orleans for the third anniversary of Katrina". Well, absent something more intimate and showing not only a deep commitment to New Orleans and all she means to this country, you know, the kind of surprise dinner to feed the city or roof to house the homeless that says, "I remembered, and gave this special day some thought", there is always tradition fall back upon:

Traditional Third Anniversary Gift: Leather
Modern Anniversary Gift: Crystal/Glass
Travel Anniversary Gift Ideas: Luggage

According to Susan Breslow Sardone the "web's foremost expert on honeymoons and romantic getaways", you should think about taking New Orleans for a little getaway this year. Since leather is the traditional third anniversary gift and Hurricane Gustav is bearing down and promising a Category 3 trip down memory lane, why not get New Orleans a nice leather weekend bag to pack away a few delicate underthings--property deeds, family albums, pets--and sufficient means to get away this time. Don't leave her and her people standing for days on end in the hot sun waiting for a bus that never comes to a surprise destination. She doesn't want a redux of the honeymoon, when she got off the plane in Salt Lake City thinking you were taking her to Houston.

And no ignoring her this time.

She wants you to give all your attention to her, because she's always been there for you--She read you Tennessee Williams wearing just a thin sweaty silk slip, reclining on that bed in the walk up on Elysian Fields. She nursed your hangover after that really, really, bad night during Mardi Gras in 1972. She introduced you to Jazz. She made you gumbo, and taught you what it was like to crave a fresh oyster on the half shell.

You need to make this year special--everyone is watching after all--don't think her ex, France, isn't standing down beneath her open window calling out deep from a soggy place beneath a little too much kir royal, "New Orleans! New Orrrrleannns!" So make it splashy, because come Monday you are off the hook for another year, and you can go back to that complacency so comfortable, for another year.