Today our Cub Scout marched in the local Independence Day parade. This is a big deal in our small suburb. I hadn't realized how big till we started looking for a place to set up our chairs to watch. It's a big party and apparently the biggest one around, based on the number of fire trucks from neighboring towns. The Cub pack came through pretty early. Unfortunately it was pretty sparse - not too many of the boys showed up. Mine was one of the banner carriers and it was easy to see he was excited about that.
The best parts of the parade (after the scouts) were the groups of veterans going through. Oh did they get the applause! I was thrilled to see that. There were some very old men walking and riding today.
After a while the endless line of fire trucks and classic cars became a little tedious. The local Corvette club was out in full force. Ho hum. Of course I was happy to see the true classic Mustangs go by. Like many of my generation, I had dreamed of owning one of those. I did have a Mustang once, but it was far from the classic style. Oh well. Those things don't seem so important anymore.
After a while we realized that our kid was at the end of the parade route and we were still sitting there. So I headed out to find him. Most of the scouts had already left, so he was a little nervous, not knowing when I'd show up. I arrived shortly before the parade ended, so all was well. On the walk home we talked about what he could have done if all the Scout leaders had to leave before I showed up. The place was crawling with veterans, firefighters, and cops. He would have been OK.
There were 2 bagpipe bands, a marching band, and 2 old-time bands playing on trailers pulled by trucks. A few sports teams walked the route, and a church had a float displaying the Fruits of the Spirit. Otherwise, it was mostly vehicles. Not exactly what I picture when I think of an old-fashioned parade, but it was fun. And the kids collected a huge amount of candy thrown from those vehicles.
Everyone's flaked out now, napping or watching an Addams Family dvd. I'm about to go read but first spent a little time noodling around and found a few good reads for this Independence Day, both at Instapundit:
Jihad Watch: What we should be fighting for this 4th of July.
BobKrumm.com: How did you spend your Independence Day?
1215 soldiers spent theirs reenlisting. Can you top that?
2 comments:
Cub Scout or Girl Scout leaders won't leave a kid.. at least they better not! I'll come and kick them in the shins for it!
Having a plan is good, though, for sure. Just in case.
That is a good point, Ami. I hadn't thought of that, and that makes me think next time I should plan better to be a little early rather than just "not late."
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