Having breakfast one morning at the Old Coffee Pot on St. Peter Street, our waitress was serving the table next to ours. Not listening to her conversation with them, we did hear her exclaim "Lord, have mercy!" and she launched into a blues song. In verses of forgiveness and redemption, she didn't leave a dry eye in the house.

As we left, my wife complimented her, saying that she was as good as anyone we had heard in New Orleans. Being half our age, she smiled and said "thank you, child."

A New Orleans moment.