If you consider me a friend, please read this!

[southlandshari]

And I hope that means every last one of you will click on this sometime today!

:loveya:


I wanted to tell you about something that absolutely warmed my heart yesterday. I took my daughter and my nephew to my small town's annual Christmas parade. Truth? I didn't want to go. I rarely have a Saturday when I don't have something I HAVE to do (work, soccer, etc...), and this struck me as optional.

I am so glad I went.

I forgot how silly and charming and sweet these events in little towns can be. Everyone and their brother was there. And most of them were in the parade in some way. There were the usual entries, the high school marching band, the girls from all the area dance studios twirling their batons and turning cartwheels, the homecoming queen and her court riding in convertibles on loan from the local Chevy dealership and driven by young men in lettermen's jackets and with no neck.

But then there were the things that defied expectations - there was a man who looked like Keith Richards (on a bad day - eek) on roller blades, wearing a Cat in the Hat topper and circling around for no discernible reason. There was a John Deere tractor pulling a little cart with seven little old ladies on it. I have idea who they were or why they were in the parade, but they looked like they were having fun, so we shouted "Merry Christmas!" to them, too.

Who knew so many people of all shapes and sizes in my little town could ride a unicycle? Wow. The funniest was a guy who would race towards the crowd, waving his arms and yelling "woah, woah, WOAH!" as if he was out of control until the very last minute. I still laugh thinking about him.

Anyone who owns a golf cart seemed to have gotten an slot in the parade, ditto anyone with a car built before 1970. All the local radio stations drove their vans in the parade, as did a local IT company, strangely.

I totally got a lump in my throat when about 20 Marines, in their dress blues, walked by in front of the Toys for Tots truck full of new toys for kids who might not have anything under the tree otherwise. I waved and said thank you to them. It isn't their fault they have an asshole for a boss.

My absolute favorite part of the parade, though, was when the bus from an assisted living community rode by, the residents of the facility all dressed in red and green and waving and smiling out the windows. Then the bus stopped, just past where we were standing, and an Elvis impersonator who had been standing on the corner jumped on and rode away with the old folks!

:rofl:


I know this all may sound totally ridiculous and hokey, but being a part of that goofy community tradition yesterday really meant something to me. And because all of you mean something to me, too, I just thought I'd share!

Have a wonderful day, my friends.

:grouphug: