Small Town Royalty

Statues and murals of frogs covered the entire city of Rayne, Louisiana, the “frog capital of the world”, and the hometown of my mother.

Rayne: the kind of small-town where everyone knew everyone and everyone trusted everyone and everyone walked into everyone’s houses because “no one had nuttin’ to hide.”More than half—almost the whole town was “family”. You know, the kind of family where you’re ALL “family” and you’re ALL “cousins”, but with half of them, you’re really not and every time you go to visit your family and your “family”, you meet more “family” that you’ve never even met before, but sometimes, they’ve met you…

I would spend most of my summers as a kid with family in Rayne and, sometimes, I still do. Every summer seemed filled with new memories and new “good times”. It became traditionfor our family from all over the states to “come on down” for the Fourth of July and spend an arm and a leg to set off tons of fireworks to cover the sky all across the town.

Our family always threw block parties and barbeques in front of my grandmother’s housebefore she passed, where friends would come from all across the town to eat soul food and dance in the streets and the police wouldn’t mind because they would be there too.

Showing up to these parties always made me feel like I walked in a parade because everyone waved at me and passed me around because they all knew who I belonged to. They constantly tried to feed me and give me desserts.

My parents appeared to me like “Rayne royalty.” My dad wasn’t from there but my mother was so everyone knew her and 300 people, including the mayor, came to their wedding. My mom was the queen and I was a princess. 

Every summer in Rayne felt like a party; a time where I could meet new people and become closer to my family.