It's Fat Tuesday in Jackson...So Of Course I'm at Work
Today is Mardi Gras. I know this because my calendar says that tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Otherwise, I wouldn't know. I miss Mardi Gras. 
Growing up in Gulfport schools were closed for Mardi Gras. The parades on the Coast were fun, particularly the Pass Christian parade on Sunday and the Biloxi night parade on Tuesday.
The Mardi Gras holiday continued while I attended college at LSU. We always had a big party on a flat bed truck on the parade route in Uptown New Orleans. This was back when the drinking age in Louisiana was 18. The weather was always really nice or freezing cold. Never anything in between.
The party started by around 8:00 a.m. and was in full force by 10:00 a.m. By noon, forget it. Because you probably weren't going to remember it.
Around dark, everyone stumbled back to their cars or started looking for rides back to Baton Rouge. It was just about impossible to get into real trouble with the cops on Mardi Gras. I knew a guy who got pulled over and was too drunk to say his ABC's. The cops let him go.
Then I get to law school at Ole Miss and they have class on Mardi Gras. What's up with that? And north of Wiggins Mardi Gras is just another work day.
Now I'm used to it. When friends or family from the Coast talk about Fat Tuesday, I almost can't believe that it's still a holiday. I have trouble remembering that just because it's in my past doesn't mean it's in everyone's past. And now that I think about it, I sort of miss it.
