The Memorial Day Parade: What a Grand Cadence

Doesn't it sound march-y: "The Memorial Day Parade" sis-boom-bang!

Anyway,
Memorial Day made me think about the parade they continue to hold in my home town every year. I was a Cub Scout the first time I marched. Comming off of a very respectable third place finish in the soap box derby and my with Cub Scout uniform fairly loaded up with bright, crisp merit badges, I felt I had earned my position.

The magic began to fade a few years later though when I realized that kids were tossed into the parade for doing next to nothing. The Police Athletic League baseball team I was on was in dead last when we marched that year. Only about half of us had the proper, thick, polyster team uniform on, the rest improvised with the closest-to- sky-blue-tee-shirts they could find. Somewhere along the parade route it hit me what a cheesy photo-op it all was and how, well past the "precious" years (5-10), I was wasting mine and everyone elses time. Better just to tip out and go scam chicks.

It was tradition for each highschool class to build a float for the Memorial Day Parade. Maybe because it was the official year of grunge rock, or maybe because we were just ill tempered teens, me and my gang of savage seniors had nothing on our minds but sabotage. Our greatest Animal House-esque plans were formulated in vans and garages over bong hits and cheap kegs. It is both a blessing and a shame that we all liked the sound of our own voices, and the thrill of beer and marijuana, too much to ever actually try most of the things we planned that year.