Long, long ago, yet it seemed like only yesterday, a tiny little boy rode in his very first Christmas parade, in the back of the Cub Scout wagon. To his chagrin, his mother rode with him-- knowing that he had been voted the child most likely to jump out of the back of a moving truck. *
He was a tiger cub that year, his first grade year, and the start of a long tradition of parade appearances.
Throughout Cub Scouts, then on into band, the boy grew--and the parades went on. And the boy was in all of them -- except one, him being sick that year. And thus, at long last, though it seemed as but a vapor, we come to his final year in high school.
It was with pride, but not without a twinge of sadness, that this boy's mother watched her son march in his very last Grenada County Christmas Parade.
The NJROTC unit:
An old car:
An actual float:
The High School Band:
And Santa!
The reason for the season:
Yes, we still pray before football games and we dare you to try to stop us. We have a nativity on our town square, and we will defend it at all costs. Us small Southern towns are like that, you know.
Now, where I was sitting, I wasn't able to get a video of the band playing. I got one of them marching, and I kept sending strong mental vibes for them to start playing, but they didn't. However, since they play the same song every year, I can post one from a couple of years ago for you.
This video is from year before last.** However, you can clearly see Cody in it. He's the second tuba player over.
And just for nostalgia's sake, while I was grabbing the code for that video, here is the one from his very first time marching as a Band member, when he was in 7th grade. He is the second sousaphone from the far side:
I took more pictures, and if you're interested in seeing them, they can be found here:
by rgunstream
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go crawl under the covers and wonder where the time went...
*This isn't Cody's cub scout float. It's the one from this year's parade.
**Last year, I had to run straight to the square from work, and didn't even have time to run home and grab a jacket, much less my camera.
2 comments:
That is so cool! Southern small towns are THE BEST (and I say that as a big city baby)
Thanks, Patti.
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