Tuesday, March 4, 2014

A Very Important Day

I am so excited about today that I don't even know where to start.  No, it's nothing life- or earth-shattering, but March 4, 2014 is a very important day in my world.  Why?  Because... TODAY.IS.MARDI.GRAS.  Duh!

I may not live in south Louisiana at the moment...I may not be attending a parade, yelling "throw me something, mister," or dancing to the beat of jazz music...but by golly this girl is celebrating Mardi Gras, even if it is mostly in her heart and not out with thousands of her closest "friends."

On the other hand, I AM wearing a gold shirt with green and purple scarves intertwined around my neck.  I WILL eat a ginormous slice of king cake after dinner.  And you know what else, I will be remembering happier days of riding in the back of my daddy's boat trailer those years we had our very own family floats down in Pecan Island.  I'll remember the year I experienced my first and only "fancy" parade in New Orleans with an 'honorary Cajun' friend.  And most of all, I'll be daydreaming about how Cajuns are the only cultural group* I have yet to see throw an awesome party.

This time of year always gets me.  Where else do you find an entire state (almost) that shuts down for three+ days...just for the heck of a good time?  I mean, really.  There is no place like it.

Yes, I'm jealous of all those who get the week off (because the weirdos up here in north Louisiana, don't observe such frivolous things...).  You can take the girl out of Cajun Country, but you cannot take Cajun Country out of the girl.  Impossible.

So while all of you are knee deep in the trenches of that icy white stuff (heck, we're pretty damn cold here too), I'm going to sit here and smile about the beauty that is south Louisiana.  ...And maybe try to figure out how I can get "I'm Cajun" stamped on my driver's license before it expires in 8 days.  Because, as of yesterday:

'I'm a Cajun' available on licenses


Sign me, up people!
-Lauren

*Disclaimer:  I'm sure there are other cultural groups that throw some pretty phenomenal celebrations, but for the sake of this post I am going to go ahead and admit some personal bias here.  :)

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