the con

I have written umpteen times about my love of small town life.  Well, Labor Day, we had a con.  I was trying as hard as I could to come up with something fun to do.  Something that would take my mind off of kindergarten eve.  Well, a Labor Day parade.  Right up my alley.

We even ventured the extra miles to Chicfila because really if we are in a 5 mile radius, I think the restaurant sends honing signals to my children until they practically press the gas pedal themselves.  We left the drive through and back tracked the 5 miles until we reached Main Street.  I was expecting some labeling or maybe seeing other people sitting outside with blankets and picinics. Nope.  None of that.  We finally got to the elementary school and found about 20 people sitting on a curb vying for the one shady spot.  OK, I guess this is it.  We all hopped out to sit on our blanket and enjoy our nuggets while we waited for the excitement.  

A decided that the blanket was no fun, she sat by herself to squeeze in the shade.

At about 12:15, we heard some sirens and K. got excited.  FIRE TRUCKS...4 measly fire trucks. Then, there were cars, motorcycles, and more cars.

Apparently, the only qualifying factor for being in the parade is bringing candy.  The parade participants came in cars and trucks.  Just typical cars in trucks, no signs, no music, no flags.  Just a car with a person throwing candy.  The kids that were around us came prepared with bags to collect said candy.  A. even said, "are we watching traffic?"  Well, yes, we are.   We didn't even know that it was over except that 15 minutes later, the cars stopped throwing candy.  We figured they were people that got stuck in the route because really, how do you know that it is a parade when all you are doing is following really slow cars.  

We folded up our blanket dejected that our last day before Kindergarten was spent on a hot curb watching a Toyota Camry and a Ford Explorer that we easily could have watched in our very own driveway.  Then, I saw A. out of the corner of my eye pick up an extra pile of candy.  I was about to say something when I a rather rotund little boy started screaming from about 50 feet away, "where's my CANDY?"  It only took a second before he was barreling over and I, again, was about to jump in.  Then my little kindergartner simply said, "I didn't know it was yours".  He was still yelling and I watched her get a piece of her own candy and say, "now you have more." He stopped what he was doing and thanked her.  His mom, also about to jump in, thanked her.  Then, his sister gave A. a lollipop.

We may not have had nice parade with bands and flags, but I got to see my girl handle her own.  I got to see her bravery and problem solving.  I got to see older kids take care of the younger ones. So, the crappy parade was worth it.