Just got back from the MG's (rather soggy!) parade. Mom and I huddled in the shelter of an overhang (thank goodness there are still a few surviving businesses on dempster st.!) and so we were dry, but had to stand for the entire affair. As the parade went on, it rained harder and harder - the Shriners on their mini-motorcycles had plastic bags on over their stupid fez hats, which kinda made it look like they had lampshades on their heads...
Otherwise it was a pretty standard parade, it opened with local cops, firemen, and tow trucks from LinMar. Some people were throwing candy. One year, the LinMar truck was distributing hot dogs to the crowd. There were a variety of marching bands (only one of them was actually from Illinois, and that one was from some place called "New Lenox") which might have been good, but since we were standing pretty close to the start of the parade route, we didn't hear them do a lot of playing. They just walked by, twiddling their flags, so to speak, and looking wet. The Jesse White tumblers were on hand, but since it was raining, they just drove by us in a minivan, their mats and trampoline secured to the roof. Blerg. There were some folks from the Action Party (who I did not vote for - their shirts said "Leading the Way" - "to what?" I asked, but none of them answered me.) The (6) marching Girl Scouts did not have any cookies on them. They must have extras, so why not hurl a box or two of thin mints our way, ladies? There were some assorted Republicans floating around too, as well as a tribe of Bolivian folk dancers, a whole bunch of Shriners, clowns (doing the same jokes every year. I mean, really? No new material?) and a group identifying themselves as "Freinds of the Morton Grove Forest Preserve" - yes, they misspelled "Friends" on the sign they were carrying - whoops! Guess they weren't "freinds" of the spell checker, eh?
All this might sound as though I did not enjoy myself - I did! For nearly every year that I can remember, I've celebrated the 4th of July the exact same way - the parade, bbq with my family, including our legendary ice cream pudding cake, the carnival, and then the fireworks. When I was young, my parents and I would drive the el camino (my first car) to the parking lot of my elementary school where they had the fireworks, and watch from the back of the car (cozy!). As I've gotten older, I started going to the fireworks with my friends (my extended family) . And every year, we'd wish for a firework to go astray and tragically set our school alight so that we would have an extended summer vacation!
I also used to love the carnival as a kid, although I've since become wary of rides that can be assembled and taken down in one day, and the carnies are always invariably the creepiest, skeeziest, most leacherous guys on the planet. Gross, gross, gross. When I was younger I had an unlimited capacity to go on the Tilt-a-whirl (Heidi told me that in the UK they call it the "waltzer" - can this be true? Anyone?) and that crazy roller coaster that went in reallyreally fast circles, but now my old lady stomach won't let me do that, or eat funnel cakes, either, which is just more proof that getting older really sucks. But, on the bright side, we are now (more than) old enough to enter the mythical beer garden, so it's all good.
But anyway, it wouldn't be the 4th without doing these things. It is, as I mentioned earlier, my favorite holiday. Maybe it's because my birthday is in November, and I've always wished that I could have a big party outside without needing a winter jacket. I am SO jealous of people with summer birthdays. I mean, seriously. Pool parties! BBQs! My birthday is in November so we could stay inside or... yeah. Stay inside. The 4th has all the things I love the most - the weather is pretty (usually), we can eat my favorite food, people are outside, there are fireworks, it's patriotic and I'm a big sucker for that stuff. Rah, rah, go us and all that. I love singing "Proud to be an American" in Harrer Park and waving a glowstick and going "Oooooh" "Ahhhhhh" and "It's a shoe!" while watching the fireworks.
So the fact that it is raining is a big huge drag. Sigh. Ah well.
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