Fat Tuesday

India

Seung and Desi came down for the funeral and I was so glad they did.

I love my family and my grandmother’s friends to death, but they can be a bit much.

I run until my chest starts to burn and my thighs feel like jelly.

I sit down on the bench by the bus stop and take a big chug of water.

With everything that has been going on in my life a routine is what is keeping me from losing it.

I still cannot believe they are gone.

I just really got my dad back in my life and boom he is dead!

And Grammy? I cannot even believe it.

I have been in New Orleans since the end of January and I hope to get back to my life in LA soon.

I never knew that settling an estate would be so hard and time consuming.

Burying one person is an emotional roller coaster but to bury two loved ones is even worse.

Then there are their individual affairs to settle.

I managed to put dad’s house on the market and now I have to decide on gram’s home.

I grew up here and I cannot imagine selling it.

Maybe I can keep it and use it as a vacation home?

Tomorrow is the reading of their respective wills.

Gram and dad had the same lawyer so at least that part was easy to arrange.

Heck I have no idea what I want to do right now because I am all over the place.

I have cried more in the last few days than I have cried in my entire life.

I was feeling so down and alone so when Desiree texted me that she was on a plane I smiled for the first time in weeks.

What I was not expecting was that Choi tagged along.

Not that he is not welcome I was just surprised he came or that he would even want to.

I mean we are not exactly bosom buddies.

We had been living peaceably for a few weeks before I got the call about dad.

He has been great with Dylan they are like two peas in a pod it is so weird considering they just met four months ago.

I look around the still deserted streets and sigh.

It is four am on Mardi Gras morning and I know that it will not be this quiet out here in an hour or so when the crews begin to get the street ready for the parades.

It is already burning up hot with the forecast calling for light rain.

Of course, that won’t stop a thing they will just bring out rain ponchos or umbrellas.

Then all the out of towners will get pissy drunk and act a fool and all of us locals will stand back and look at them shaking our heads.

I know Mardi Gras is a time to let loose and have fun but for the life of me I will never understand how people come to a place they are not from and lose their ever loving minds.

When I go out, I like to keep my wits about me.

I do not drink in excess if at all nor do I put myself in a position to be put in harm’s way.

I have a child and too much to lose I ain’t even playing with these tourists and their stupid shenanigans.

I take another large chug of water a