NOLA Snapshot: All Things Must Go

One of the things I truly admire about New Orleans is its tendency and ability to bare every part of its soul. Faults and eccentricities aren’t sheltered; neither is pain. This is what came to mind when I saw streetside a small living room’s worth of stained, tattered furniture and an ornate picture frame with its stock photo still secured smugly inside.

(Photo by: Hanna Rasanen)

There was something striking about the picture in its frame among rejected sofas and tables. The frame is beautiful and the couple is young, attractive and blissfully happy, daring the owner to replace them with a moment as perfect as theirs, mocking them because it isn’t possible. Maybe the frame was purchased in hopes that someday a moment worthy of the gold trim would rise up; the moment didn’t come and the owner threw the frame to the curb, laying out their disappointments and regrets for the world to see.

Of course, there’s absolutely nothing to suggest that this assortment of items was anything but some old garbage that someone was trying to get rid of. This would be, by far, the least interesting scenario. But if that’s the case, someone’s useless garbage became a flight of fancy for a 21-year-old girl and, possibly, a free picture frame for a new couple. Most everything, good and bad, is worth opening up to the world; doing so is part of what makes New Orleans what it is, and often results in something beautiful.