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I just returned from a fun little small town excursion. This weekend is a festival here in Podunkville, USA and so there was a parade. My daughter's Girl Scout Troop was riding in a truck, tossing candy, so we had to drop her off and then hang out, watch the parade, and pick her up afterwards. My husband ended up getting called for OT today, so I was on my own.
As I might have mentioned before, I don't take my kids many places en masse by myself, especially if it requires getting them out of the car. I guess this started when I had too many babies to carry, lug diaper bags for, etc. at once. We used to have a double stroller, but now that the little guys are 5, 4, and 2.5, it seemed we had outgrown our need for it. I don't know how long ago we got rid of the double, but it seems like at least a year. So now we are down to one umbrella stroller for the littlest kiddo.
I spent some time wracking my brain last night, trying to figure out how I was going to herd 4 little boys through sidewalks full of people, through looking at booths of crafts and free balloons, across busy streets, and so forth. I never did come up with a really good plan except to do the best I could and go forth!
I am happy to tell you that, similar to my uneventful, non-tragic grocery shopping trip yesterday (totally lacking in blogworthiness, but great for the parental sanity!), it was really just fine! Really! As in, I am having something of a brain revolution here, thinking that it seems I have gotten over The Worst Of It (the worst being navigating through having 3 babies in 3 years)!
I had the 2 year old in the stroller, the other ones walking. The didn't stay right next to me, but within a few feet, and always stopped or came back when I called to them. It was No. Big. Deal.
So, stick a golden star on my nose, whydon'tcha?
The boys loved the parade (I have actually taken them to parades before, largely alone, but I think I always had the help of older kids and double strollers and baby backpacks). Their favorite part was when the people riding along toss candy out. I have some seriously great candy scavengers, I tell ya.
But what I really want to ask you all is this: Am I the only person who gets emotional at parades? Am I the only one who sees the military personnel marching along and starts to cry? That gets totally choked up when the fire trucks and ambulances go by with their lights and sirens going? I always do that. I never see anybody else doing it though. What do you think? Abnormal? Insane? Unstable? Overly hormonal?
I await your diagnosis.
Oh, and, no archives for today. Don't cry about it, though, for heaven's sake!
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Small Town Day
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3 comments:
Wow, I _honestly_ never knew that anyone teared up at parades, I always thought that it was just me. It really started affecting me though more after 9-11....so, there, you have a friend that will sniff with you a parade, too bad we don't live close to one another. ;) ~B
I always cry at parades. Also at pep rallies and football games. Something about the band music pushes my buttons. That, and the whole soldier/firefighter/EMT/service to country and community thing...WAAAAAAH, WAAAAAAAH, WAAAAAAH!
I think it *is* something about the sounds that gets me. Although I've been fighting the urge to bawl at parades for a mighty long time, I know that now that I have experienced 2 or 3 harrowing ambulance rides of my own, not sure if my baby or I would survive it, those ambulance sirens always bring back those feelings of fear and dread and getting an IV put in while you bump along on a stretcher while cruising toward the hospital.
I guess also since my husband is a fireman and I know he could die at work pretty much any day is always in the back of my mind. Not just about my husband, but that any of the people we are looking at riding down the street tossing candy, might die because they care enough to serve the public in that way.
Tonite I almost cried when I found out that the regular firemen in my husband's department (non officers) usually get a paycheck of about $550 every other week. Ouch. And the city government doesn't think they need a raise. The leaders would all turn out for the funeral and make a big deal out of it, but they really aren't appreciated in life or duty.
But, you know, even the marching band playing "Louie, Louie" made me feel like crying today. So, I'm with ya Alana. Can you imagine the two of us at a big marching band competition? We'd need a whole box of tissues between us!
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