Gearing up for Mardi Gras

E's sister Sue is flying in from Utah on Friday afternoon. This will be her fourth trip down here and her first that coincides with Mardi Gras. She's pretty excited about seeing New Orleans during Carnival.

I've attended every Mardi Gras for the past 25 years except 1988 when I was in the middle of the police academy (and, boy, was I ticked that we didn't have the holiday!). In our younger, wilder days my friend Lin and I would pack up and head out on the Thursday before Mardi Gras day and return on Ash Wednesday. We'd stay and M & D's and hit every parade we possibly could. There have been years that we saw 20 parades thanks to M. She was raised going to lots of parades so she knows exactly where to catch parade A so that we have time to run and catch parade B, etc. I promise you that there's no way I could keep up that kind of pace now.

There were also years that we piled as many of us as we could into M & D's place. One year there were 10 of us sleeping in their one bedroom apartment in Algiers. It was cramped but we sure had a great time. That's the year that my sister and BIL came with Lin and I. I drove a Toyota Tercel and it was so crowded thanks to the luggage and the beads. K swore she was hyperventilating in the back seat. [vbg]

Now that E and I live in Baton Rouge we drive back and forth to the parades we want to attend. Gone are the days of sleeping in sleeping bags on M & D's floor and trying to break last year's record for number of parades we attended and bags of beads we caught. Now I'm only interested in attending a handful of parades, including what I call the "big 3" - Endymion, Bacchus, and Orpheus.

On Sunday we'll head to the Westbank to see M & D's parade - the Krewe of Adonis - followed by the Bacchus parade that evening. Monday we'll head back for Orpheus, which is my favorite parade.

Remember that [em]Friends[/em] episode where Ross and Rachael talk about their list of celebrity "freebies"? In this episode they each got to carry a list of five celebrities that they would consider being with as an exception to the no flings rule of their relationship. Well, E and I each have a list of one - his is Gwen Stefani and mine is Harry Connick, Jr. Harry founded the Krewe of Orpheus in 1993 and has often returned to ride in the parade. One year his float was stopped in front of us for a full 15 minutes while he sang. It was heaven I tell you. Last year Harry was supposed to be in the parade but he stood me up. This year with all the hurricane stuff I would think that my Harry would make it his business to be there. If he stands me up again, we're through. [wink]

I've taken Monday and Wednesday off so that I can attend Mardi Gras without interruptions. It's going to be loads of fun and even the weather is supposed to cooperate.