Mardi What?

As a good New England Catholic school girl, I learned about Mardi Gras back in middle school. But to be honest, the nuns taught us that indulgent Southerners would engage in gluttony and indecent acts prior to Ash Wednesday.

I thought Mardi Gras was interesting, but I never thought I would participate myself.

Our first exposure to Mardi Gras was when we lived in Pensacola in the late 90's. Their parade was pretty decent and not too crowded. We had Moon Pies and we were happy.

The next year we traveled to New Orleans with a bunch of our fellow aviation training cohorts. After an hour of gawking at the madness on Bourbon Street, I was done. I'd had enough. On our way back to the hotel, someone on a balcony peed on my head, and I was officially done with Mardi Gras for all time.

The nuns were right!

But my children really are Southern born and bred. They were born on the bayou. As much as I consider myself a New Englander, my kids don't think of themselves that way. They love Mardi Gras, even though their mean parents won't take them to a parade.

Still, our school has one of the sweetest Mardi Gras traditions I've ever seen. The Kindergarten class does their parade every year on Fat Tuesday. They pull floats (decorated wagons) around the gymnasium and present songs and poems. It's adorable.

This year their theme was "Sail Away on a Poem" and my son was a sailor.

It hasn't turned my mind around about Mardi Gras completely but it was so cute. Even the nuns would be moved.