MARDI GRAS
It's Mardi Gras and that makes this mom-a mental case.
I lost the love of parades long ago...after hours of standing around in crowds doing live shots for the television news. Those crazy, hazy days of wandering through the streets of New Orleans looking for a new twist to a an old, predictable story-are gone.
Now, I'm on my knees, praying hard for the safe return of my two eldest sons as they wander through the biggest free party on earth, in what has become one of the most dangerous cities in the country. Kids of course are invincible. Nothing can touch them. Even I knew that as a kid.
In fact, Mardi Gras, enticed me to come study in New Orleans. My Louisiana girlfriend, Anita Byrd, who attended the Missisisippi University for Women with me, drove us into the city that care forgot and I forgot all about the "W"...We both transferred to Loyola University...and the rest is history.
Like my sons, I was insanely fearless...getting a part time job in the wee hours of the night, at a downtown cocktail lounge high atop a hotel. I didn't even know how to make a cocktail-but so what-this was an adventure! I never told my parents-because they would have told me to pack my bags. Fearless and insane maybe--but not dense! I worked 'til 2 a.m., rode the streetcar down St. Charles Avenue and ran in the dark night, from the front of the campus to my dorm in the back...My guardian angels worked overtime! Needless to say, I quit shortly after-but only when I found my senses.
I watched the crowds at the grocery today, all decked out in their purple, green and gold...shopping carts stacked with all the makings of a festive celebration...food, party treats and lots of liquid spirits. It brought back memories of the old days- and a feeling of gratitude for this new day.
They call Mardi Gras, the greatest free show on earth, but I've learned, nothing is free...and the price we pay is often higher than we ever anticipated.
So today some thirty years later and several lifetimes wiser, I am cautiously optimistic about the next few days of fun filled revelry. I'm praying that the Mardi Gras madness will be more merry than most...and that my kids will make it safely, through this mysteriously endearing-but insanely acceptable -celebration.
I lost the love of parades long ago...after hours of standing around in crowds doing live shots for the television news. Those crazy, hazy days of wandering through the streets of New Orleans looking for a new twist to a an old, predictable story-are gone.
Now, I'm on my knees, praying hard for the safe return of my two eldest sons as they wander through the biggest free party on earth, in what has become one of the most dangerous cities in the country. Kids of course are invincible. Nothing can touch them. Even I knew that as a kid.
In fact, Mardi Gras, enticed me to come study in New Orleans. My Louisiana girlfriend, Anita Byrd, who attended the Missisisippi University for Women with me, drove us into the city that care forgot and I forgot all about the "W"...We both transferred to Loyola University...and the rest is history.
Like my sons, I was insanely fearless...getting a part time job in the wee hours of the night, at a downtown cocktail lounge high atop a hotel. I didn't even know how to make a cocktail-but so what-this was an adventure! I never told my parents-because they would have told me to pack my bags. Fearless and insane maybe--but not dense! I worked 'til 2 a.m., rode the streetcar down St. Charles Avenue and ran in the dark night, from the front of the campus to my dorm in the back...My guardian angels worked overtime! Needless to say, I quit shortly after-but only when I found my senses.
I watched the crowds at the grocery today, all decked out in their purple, green and gold...shopping carts stacked with all the makings of a festive celebration...food, party treats and lots of liquid spirits. It brought back memories of the old days- and a feeling of gratitude for this new day.
They call Mardi Gras, the greatest free show on earth, but I've learned, nothing is free...and the price we pay is often higher than we ever anticipated.
So today some thirty years later and several lifetimes wiser, I am cautiously optimistic about the next few days of fun filled revelry. I'm praying that the Mardi Gras madness will be more merry than most...and that my kids will make it safely, through this mysteriously endearing-but insanely acceptable -celebration.
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