Holiday Parade 2009

Every year for the past 57 years Santa Barbara has held a holiday parade. I've never gone. Not a single time. Shivering in the cold while battling crowds and traffic and fighting for parking just did not appeal to me. Until this year, that is. This year, Todd participated in the parade with his karate class, and I was one of dozens of parent volunteers helping to keep the kids organized as we walked down State Street.

I was a bit anxious about the cold and being out there for so long, so I made sure to bundle up Todd and myself as snugly as we could. We left later than planned, hit traffic everywhere, and had Allan drop us off near the parade start point-- 10 minutes before the 6:30 parade start time. Luckily, they were still forming the lines when we arrived, and Todd was whisked off to the front of the line. And even more luckily, most of the parent volunteers stationed themselves at the line their kids were in, so I took my place right next to Todd, who was on the far left side of the first row. Great opportunity to keep an eye on him while helping to keep the rest of the line in order.

We wound up staying where we were for a long time before we finally started marching-- it wasn't until about 7:10 that we finally started making our way down the street. I started getting cold, but it wasn't too bad. My extremities were chilled but the rest of me was warm. Better still was the fact that when I grabbed Todd's gloved hand, I could feel the heat radiating through both his glove and my glove, so I was heartened by the fact that he was clearly nice and warm.

Then we finally started moving! That helped keep everyone really warm-- walking. We strode briskly for several blocks before we finally started stopping about every half block so the kids could perform some of their moves for the crowd.

I tried to scan the vast sea of faces in the crowds on the sidelines to see if I could find anyone I recognized, but no. There were just too many people and most of the time I was too busy keeping an eye on the line, anyway.

Before we knew it, we'd reached the end of the parade line and dispersed. It was over surprisingly quickly, although you could tell the kids were getting tired by then. By the time we made our way to the car and I sank in my seat, I, too, was surprised to discover how tired I actually was. It was a lot more work than I imagined, even though I couldn't feel it at the time. At the same time, it was also a lot more fun than I thought it would be, and I was certainly glad that being able to walk kept me nice and warm in the biting, chilly air.

Here's to next year's parade! :-)