Happy Memories of Home–Mardi Gras
As I was driving through Bankhead Tunnel the line of vehicles came to a stop. It was a short delay while traffic was routed around a maintenance crew. Just long enough for me to take a quick photograph. I thought, lucky this wasn’t one of those trips through the tunnel when Lance and I were kids. Way back then we would try to hold our breath through to the other side. Before the Wallace Tunnel…that four-laned wonder with the suicide sharp turn…was constructed. Good memories of Mobile, Alabama from decades past.
Mardi Gras beads were draped like Spanish moss on the ancient branches of live oaks that line Government Street. Metal barricades stood just off the pavement, awaiting their next parade. Purple, gold and green decorations hung from doors, columns, signs, windows…it felt like Mardi Gras.
I associate Mobile and Mardi Gras with childhood and the Deep South…with home. Lights, music and parades…horses. Beads!! Candy!! Childhood memories float upward through many years of experiences and I find tidbits and snapshots in my mind of my dad, mom, brother and me. Maybe we didn’t go that much but from my memories, it was a happy, joyous and exciting time to be a kid on the Gulf Coast.
Today I visited Toomey’s… supplier of all things Mardi Gras in our area. A huge room filled with rows and rows of beads and moon pies gives those of us shopping for throws many choices. But so does the other monstrous room filled with speciality beads and plush toys, frisbees, hats, lighted gadgets…oh my gosh! I enjoy this once-a-year trip!! Every time I enter the store I feel myself light up. I want to visit every corner to take it all in.
It’s still fun to attend parades and catch beads and moon pies but admittedly I find a kid or two nearby and give away most of what I catch. And now, my second year riding, I find even more joy at sharing the much-desired beads…and delicious moon pies and trinkets. It’s a highlight of the year for me. And the proverbial icing on the cake is that the float I ride supports our Alabama sea turtles. No fancy costumes but good Gulf Shores Mardi Gras fun!
Mardi Gras is one of the experiences of my life that is deeply interwoven with the sense of place I have here on the Gulf Coast. It’s not drunken partying that delights me but rather the reliving of happy memories and creating new ones. It’s a time of plenty, of giving and receiving, of celebrating life with everyone. Of music, culture, food, colors, people….home.