Mardi Gras

Andrew here to share a little story I found to be uplifting....

This past Sunday, Marlina wanted to go down to the Mardi Gras kid's parades in Galveston.  A fun little event, the local Krewes put on a couple of different parades around the Strand that benefit different charities ( I think this year it was for the Sunshine Kids).  Basically a bunch of open-air buses drive around and throw plastic beads out the windows and the tops for the kids to fight over.  There was Luke, Katie, Cameron, Julia, Caleb, James, and baby Nora, along with the older "kids" Marlina and I, Christina and Billy, Travis and Leah.

As the buses made their way around the Strand, I had a blast just watching the kids catching the beads.  I watched as the older boys edged to the front of the crowd, nudging the smaller girls out of the way.  Then I noticed that Katie and Julia had a way of dancing behind the boys that made the bead throwers throw the beads over the boys' heads.  Then more beads got tossed and the boys loaded up.  Before long, each had a long beard of beads that would make Mr. T jealous.

The intermission came and the adults had a few beverages while the kids circled around and "traded" beads.  Now, what makes one set of plastic beads that someone threw off a moving vehicle more valuable than another set is anyone's guess, but they seemed to have some system worked out.  Then came the second round of parades.  As the buses slowly passed us this time, I again noticed that the boys edged up front and the girls were behind.  This time however, Luke was doing something a little different.  As each bus passed us, he worked real hard a getting a set or two of beads thrown his way.  However, as the bus passed, he look across the street, picked out a little girl, and slung the beads along the ground in her direction.  The other side of the street jumped and screamed and fought over the beads that Luke had slung over there.  I watched him do this four or five times.  He never chose the same girl, and he never threw the beads in the air where it would hit someone in the face.  He quietly caught the beads, waited for the bus to pass, then slung them along the ground to someone whom he had chosen out of the crowd.  I finally stopped him and asked him why he was doing that.  His reply?  "Dad, I have enough of these beads, and those kids over there look like they need some.  Besides, it is fun watching them fight over them!"

Its fun watching them grow up and develop personalities.  #OneProudDad