So much better...
I'd have to say I took the event for granted for many years. Sure, we'd watch the fireworks signaling the end of the festivities, and sometimes I'd even watch the parade in person (a time or two I was in the parade...). But, I never really took the celebration too much to heart. Last year we could no longer call ourselves citizens of the city and we missed the event. This year, however, I missed it both literally and figuratively.
The first thing that got to us this year was the announcement of the 2022 Festival Days Grand Marshalls, Betty and Woody Whitlock. We've been neighbors to the Whitlocks for decades...finer people you cannot find. They are loving, giving, and most of all, hilarious. When you think, "Salt of the Earth," they should have a picture of them in the dictionary under that phrase. We would have loved to have seen them waiving to the crowds as their car lazily drove down Main Street. We would have gone to the parade for sure this year just for them.
The town to the north and east of where we now live held a similar celebration this past weekend. They had a parade and fireworks. We missed the parade and caught the fireworks. It wasn't the same. And that's okay--communities should be unique and not try to be like something they're not.
Yes, I have a good idea of how things transpired about 50 miles to the south of us the past couple of days. Runners exhausted themselves at the Fun Run, kids scrambled for thrown candy on the parade route, goods and services were exchanged on the park next to the elementary school I attended and the baseball diamonds where I played. And in the evening, the townsfolk peered skyward as explosions of light and sounds delighted the residents and their friends and families.
Yeah, sort of missed the old town this year. I'm grateful for the memories.
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