Spirit of 76

When people talk about the indomitable will, they usually are referring to my mother. Like a force of nature, my mother can be as full of blessing as a beautiful sunny day or as destructive as a tsunami. Most people only see the former, but there have been times when I have had to deal with the latter and I must tell you it isn't pleasant. Nevertheless, there isn't a day that doesn't go by that I don't truly love my mother. I have had the pleasure of being my mother's son for nearly 54 years (yikes!) and today she celebrates her 76th birthday. There are very few birthdays she hasn't celebrated with family and friends at her favorite haunt, New Orleans's oldest restaurant, Antoine's. The picture above was taken at her 75th bash with cocktails in the Rex Room, followed by a sumptuous feast served in the Hermes Room. You might notice the blunt references to Carnival krewes that figured in last year's banner celebration at Antoine's. Carnival has been a major part of my mother's life here. She has attended balls since a teenager and was in attendance at the Krewe of Moslem ball the night before she delivered me on the Sunday before Fat Tuesday in 1954. That Sunday on the Carnival calendar (the one just before Mardi Gras) figured very prominently for her as well in the years to come. The next year she began a run of almost 40 years of riding with the Krewe of Venus. When the krewe disbanded in 1992 in its 51st year, my mother was its senior officer. Also, that year my son and two of his first cousins -- Wallace and Lauren Title -- were three of the last four pages to the king and queen. The pinnacle of her parading experiences may have been in 1976 when my mother rode through the streets of New Orleans as the queen of Venus. Yet, even after the krewe had disbanded, she missed her parading so much that she contracted with the then males-only Krewe of Okeanos (who had taken over the Sunday before Mardi Gras route from Venus) to allow her to have two or three floats of women riders, many former Venus members. She did that for nearly ten years until just two years before Katrina. You can definitely say that Carnival is truly in her blood. Apparently, so is wanderlust. She enjoys traveling on board any of the Crystal luxury liners and does so frequently. I always tell friends that instead of frequent flier miles, my mom gets frequent oceans. Some of us have tried to convince her to stay in New Orleans a bit more, but there goes that indomitable will again. She will have none of that. It is her way or the highway. Like Molly Brown of Titanic fame, she is quite unsinkable! Happy birthday, mother.