nixtress's Diaryland Diary

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Saturday's parade

Saturday morning found us (along with my Gramps, aunt, my cousin and Tater) sitting on cold concrete in front of my Gramps' assisted living place waiting for a parade to start.
Yesterday was the college's homecoming and they always have a parade of gargantuan proportions. It was NOT disappointing.
It began with fire engines from our community as well as neighboring ones, seasoned here and there with homecoming royalty perched on the backs of convertibles, some waving stiffly like windshield wipers, others having practiced way too much. Then came our local marching bands, limping along and out of tune. Even the colors on the uniforms they wore seemed muted. Floats followed, in every color of the rainbow, tossing more candy than should be legal with small children. The boys scurried in between, snagging the random pieces that seem designed to get children run over. There were cherubic children dressed as the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz, ladies dressed in bridal fashions that looked like they were made from whipped cream, they were so frothy. A man on stilts, dressed as a pirate, wandered back and forth and in and out, gibbering away and leering. There were Beef Princesses and 4-H floats, banking institutions tossing out the little plastic change purses that always looked like strange mouths to me when I was a kid, the ones shaped like footballs that you squeezed the ends of to open. There were college sororities and fraternities, tossing out college t-shirts and flags. The boys loved the military vehicles and tractors that motored through, as well as the clowns and the giant dancing eagle (college mascot). Towards the end was another marching band, belonging to the team we were playing for homecoming, and it rocked in ways that I've never seen a marching band rock. These guys and gals were seriously gettin' their collective groove on. The flag corps and baton twirlers were moving like something out of a video and the band itself had this way of dancing as it ambled down the street. The funny thing, to me? Not a single person in this huge grouping was Caucasian. They kicked the pants off any other marching band in the parade. Hands down.
There were, of course, the expected kids on bikes and elderly in old cars, cheerleaders and christian youth groups. Know what I missed? It always seemed, when I was a kid, that parades had those nifty little cars, driven by the guys in the funky hats with tassels (I now know they were Shriners) in weird patterns and fluctuations, moving seamlessly in rhythm with one another. They almost looked like cars designed for dwarves, to me. Those little cars and their drivers are sadly absent now. No more rumbling little vehicles. Parades just don't seem the same without them.
The boys ended up with so much candy that I'm thinking we'll skip trick-or-treating this year (kidding!). They had a good time, as did Tater who squealed like only small girls can when they see ballgowns and princesses. It was an hour and thirty minutes well spent, steeping my sons once again in the flavors of smalltown living.
***
Work last night was stupidly slow. I was incredibly tired before my time there was half over. It was awful. I just wanted to crawl under the desk and sleep. I didn't get a whole heck of alot of sleep last night either and feel slightly drugged today so this evening should suck as well. Maybe I'm just jinxing myself, however.
Brother B. is back in Ohio as of last night at 8pm. I still have mixed feelings about that, as I know he'll not willingly turn himself in to face the music he created.
Go give Juddhole much love. He needs it right now.
Happy Sunday.
N.

10:16 a.m. - 2004-10-03

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