I was born and raised in the great Pelican State of Louisiana. I grew up in a small town with a population of only 361! The great thing about my home state is the amount of pride locals have for it.

We love our Raising Canes, Gumbo, and king cakes. Every year, around a certain day in February, we all celebrate one of the biggest holidays down there, Mardi Gras! If you have not experienced Mardi Gras in Louisiana, then you have not lived!

When I was 10, though, my mom decided to move off from Louisiana and to Missouri. When I first moved, I was all for the sense of adventure involved with it. As the years went by I soon realized how much I missed my home state. I missed my family, friends, and the local places down there.

The town I reside in now, Branson, doesn't celebrate Mardi Gras hardly at all. So I decided I would bring Mardi Gras to my high school. Every year my school passes out beads and makes a king cake, with all the traditions, thanks to me. But even with all that, I still felt like something was missing, I was missing Louisiana.

Every day I miss the Ragin' Cajun pride associated with my home state. Sometimes I look at my friend's profiles in Louisiana and wish I could have graduated alongside them and share some southern traditions. Instead, though, I am in Missouri just going through the normal high school process. All the time I promise my home state friends that I'll be coming back one day, I mean, I even applied and was seriously thinking about going to college in Louisiana. As we all know though, college is seriously expensive, so my dreams of going to college in my home state were seriously out the window. As many times as I try to run from you, Louisiana, I will always be brought closer and closer.