Jessica's First Parade

Jessica stressed about it. She worried that she wouldn't be able to march the 5K parade route. Finding out that her cousin Sophie had run 5K helped relieve her mind on that score. She practiced. She stressed some more--what if she forgot the music?! Finally the day has arrived. It is the day of her first parade and she is going into the day with mixed feelings.

The Band is gathered at the staging point 1 1/2 hours before the begining of the parade. Now they wait. . .

Meanwhile our family has found a good spot to see the parade. We live just 2 blocks from the traditional St Joseph parade route. Annette and 4 of her children are stranded here in St Joseph while work is being done on thier car. A parade is a good thing to pass the time. So we wait. . .

The Band continues to wait. . .

The wait can drive you crazy. . .crazy. . .finally you just have to blow off some steam as you wait. . . and wait. . . and wait. . .

Boredom has set in on the curb. Books, knitting, and crocheting fill the time. Will the parade ever start??? Aunt Cheryl are they coming yet?? As we wait. . . and wait. . .

Then we hear the drum line. It is the cadance of our school. Jessica marches by playing her Melephone, smiling all the while. We cheer. She is practacally dancing down the street. Jessica is the second from the right in the below picture.

We all know that there are spoils of parades. In our family we find it amusing that Josh, our diabetic seems to have tons of candy quite literally thrown into his lap. No matter where he moved to, he was still the favorite target. It is alright. The haul is for all, and Mom will give most of it away in the next couple of weeks.