Parade Time is Here Again!

Last year, right before I came to work at the station, I got an email from Jamie asking if I'd possibly be able to participate in a parade the very first week I worked. So after about 4 days of employment, I got up early on a Saturday, headed to Fort Wayne and worked the Three Rivers Festival Parade.

I was pretty excited to find out I was assigned the parade again this year! This was the official parade crew: Ken, Lynne, Ross, moi, and Scott. (And of course a little Michael W. Smith and Natalie Grant just for kicks.)

Want to know what I did NOT do in the parade? Ride the trikes. They were no easier to navigate than they had been last year! (They steer with the back wheels, which is backwards to me, and as you can see, they were set for someone MUCH taller than I!)

Ah yes. Something more my capability level. :) Carrying the banner! I was so excited to carry it with Lynne this year. (Any day I get to hang out with her is a good day.)

Yeah. We weren't doing this AFTER the parade, let me tell ya. We were lucky to have that thing off the GROUND. We were entry #152 of probably 170 or so....so the parade had been underway for a full hour before we even started moving. By that time we were sweating and the sun was h.o.t.

To run/walk/keep pace/wave/smile/carry the banner (evenly...when we're two very different heights) was a challenge. Halfway through, Lynne said to me, "Was this easier to carry when you weren't with someone who was different in height?" I said, "Well, last year I carried it with Larry." (Larry is over 6 feet tall, I'm sure.)

Scott and Ross CAN navigate the trikes. :)

It was SO HOT out and by the end of the parade, I just wanted water and air conditioning. It took me a while to feel good again, but it was still SUCH fun. (Especially when people who don't know you at all yell your name because it's on your shirt and they can!!)

The funniest part, though, I gotta tell you, was this. I texted Lynne the day before and said, "Hey can you DVR the parade so I can take pictures for the scrapbook?"

She answered, "Yes my dear Bekah. I can do that for you." I knew she was laughing at me. It never occurred to me that she wasn't familiar with the concept of taking pictures of something on TV for the sake of the scrapbook. Oh I have so much to teach her. :)