Do I?

"Iiiiii love a parade!" I don't even know where that came from. I think it's a song, but Google informs me it is a 1932 short comedy. Oh no, indeed it is a song.

I took Toe to see the Regatta Parade on Saturday. We went with good friends and had a great time, but it was a strange experience for me.

When I was a kid, my father had a children's television show on the local cable access channel for a little over five years. Small town stuff, but he was a local celebrity and this meant he was in every parade in the region for a few years there. Subsequently, so was I. My memories of this experience are a lot of waiting before the parade started, and then a lot of waving. We only got to see who else was in the parade as we lined up. Mostly you saw the float/marchers/ car in front of you and all of the crowds. For years after I avoided parades like the plague.

But now I have a small son and our friends were going and I thought he might like it. I do enjoy watching the Macy's Day parade, but this was obviously different. Toe was won over immediately. It started and ended with fire trucks. There were also fire trucks in the middle. And there was a street sweeper at the end. Really, what more could you ask? Lollipops. He got to eat two.

My favorite was a group of baton twirlers and a marching band from Portland where the youngest looked to be in their fifties. The band sounded great and it was so nice to see people doing what they love. I do love marching bands.

It was fun to see so many people in the community out for this event, and so many people in the parade. It was a little long for me, but Toe enjoyed it thoroughly. And as I saw some kids ride past on various floats, waving half-hearted little waves in the heat (90 degrees in a town that has mostly seen 65 all summer), I was grateful to be on the sidewalk rather than the street.