Southern Hospitality: Mallory Madison
“Damn…I forgot my portable fan,” I thought to myself as I rode in the back of my aunt and uncle’s Cadillac. I was sweating profusely in the thick Alabama heat. I don’t even know why I cared to carry it around. It didn’t give me any cool air circulation; it only blew hot air back in my face and made it harder for me to breathe. I stuck my head out the window as we passed the Mobile County sign. We were close to home.
Purple, silver and emerald green painted the town. Paper jesters and theatre masks hung from light posts, restaurants and small stores. Confetti covered the streets and sidewalks. “Mobile just never stops celebrating,” I thought to myself. Mardi Gras was an ongoing event in this small town and it never died out here. The festival began in Mobile in 1703,15 years before Louisiana was founded in 1718. Mobile has carnivals and festivities that not only last for the two weeks around Fat Tuesday and Lent, but for the entire year. However, unlike Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Mardi Gras in Mobile is more of a “family oriented” gathering. There is even a museum dedicated to useful facts, history and memorabilia about Mardi Gras called the Mobile Carnival Museum.
I was on my yearly summer trip to visit relatives in the South. This time around, my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Butch housed me as their guest. Over the years, I had been to Alabama to visit them only twice, but I felt like they were my second set of parents. They were so loving and caring. Their Southern way of life was so different from the other places I had been, especially good old California.
As we drove up to the house, it felt like I was just here yesterday. Big sunflowers bloomed brightly in the front garden, standing taller than the railing on the porch. My uncle recently painted the house a brilliant, crisp white on which the sun shone wonderfully. All eight of my cousins were out on the front lawn. The younger kids were playing tag and the older ones were watching them frolic and giggle.
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