My Mom, Queen of the Mardi Gras →[More:]My hometown in Louisiana has a pretty wide racial split. The town itself is split about 50/50 black and white, but because of several private schools (read: "white"), the public school is 90% black. When we were kids, my parents sent us to the public school and though it affected us socially, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

In an effort to bring the townspeople together, each year, the town throws a community Mardi Gras parade. This year, they chose my mom as the Queen. So, as one of her royal duties, she helped to bring participants to the parade. So she called Mr. Lawrence Jackson, who is the band director for Southern University (he used to be the band director for tiny Clinton High School) and asked him if he'd like to participate. Mr. Jackson was a long-time friend of my dad, who died two years ago, and he happily agreed.

Not only did the band perform, but they stopped in front of my grandparents' house and played "Mardi Gras Time", one of my dad's favorites. After the parade, the band came back to Mom's church where my brother had made chicken and sausage gumbo for 300. All of my Mom's friends provided desserts and even served the gumbo up. It was a day my family and the community won't soon forget.

TLDR: Beads!