One of these days when you’re cruising through the Garden District or along St. Charles Avenue without the rush of drop-off or pick-up, you may notice a few pineapples perched atop a residential gate post anchoring someone’s entryway. You’ve probably sipped on a summer Sazarac in someone’s backyard garden listening to water trickle down a pineapple tiered fountain. Maybe you’ve powdered your nose in a room draped in pineapple damask.
So much of New Orleans architecture and design reflects the pineapple’s history of hospitality.
Discovered by American colonists, to procure and present a guest with such rare and exotic fruit became the ultimate symbol of hospitality. A pineapple on one’s front steps also signaled to weary travelers that they were welcome to stay a while, rest and renew.
Parenting is exhausting (and exhilarating). I often feel like a weary traveler wandering aimlessly trying to make my way home from the battlefield. But it is through the help and support of other parents, mostly friends but sometimes strangers, where I have found great solace in a world that can sometimes feel quite desolate.
The nolaParent pineapple is an expression of human warmth and family affection. It is an invitation to visit, stay a while and rest your weary mind. It is a symbol to remind you that you are not alone on this journey.
From one weary soldier to another, welcome to nolaParent.
