“I grew up in Mobile but moved away in 1989. My ex-husband was a soul-sucker and sucked the life out of me. Life hadn’t been fun in a long time. When I went through my divorce, my sister told me to come home for a Mardi Gras ball. That first weekend at Mardi Gras was an awakening that life is supposed to have joy.

I started asking my friends to come with me, and it grew from 3 to 12 women. We live in Huntsville, Dothan, Decatur, and Pensacola, and have been doing this for six years. Our age range is 24 to 72. One of us is adorabley pregnant. Some of us work together and a couple of us are mother and daughter—but we are all sisters and love each other. Most of us go to Tacos and Tequila every Tuesday night, so we have margarita beads.

Last night we had pizza and played games. We laughed and cursed and there was no drama. Today’s plan is to eat, nap, drink, go to the ball, and more drinking. We are doing it again tomorrow, so we are pacing ourselves.

Each trip to Mardi Gras is my anniversary of coming back to life. I happily share it with my friends.”

DeLayne with Peyton, Mia, Jenniver, Robin Susan, Martha, Kriss, Jessica, Nicole, Paige

(ball photos provided by DeLayne)