What a rockin’ day! The weather was perfect and the activities were non-stop. After joining my buddy and the kids for breakfast we set out to find the parade route. We saw what was the marshalling point, but were having trouble finding the actual route once the parade turned. We decided at last to start near the start. This isn’t San Francisco, where the entire City is overrun by parade goers and revelers, it’s Sacramento, where the parade consists of 6 floats, 10 cars, and some people with signs representing their various interests ambling down the street for an hour.
Driving down a one way street, a squad car and officer sat on the opposite side of the next corner, blocking traffic. All lanes could only go right. I was in the left hand lane and started to turn right, swinging farther than necessary because we needed to ask the guy exactly where we needed to be. Swinging farther would have allowed me to get up close to him with my window down and ask the question.
I made this maneuver very slowly, but apparently, seeing the car not doing the predictable thing freaked the poor cop out! He was in a panic, arms up, nearly climbing to the top of his car up the side, saying, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” as though was I barreling down at him like a NASCAR driver making the final turn before the checkered flag instead of the 5 mph I was doing. The kids are howling in the back as I slide along next to him and say, “I was just going to ask you a question.” “Oh,” he said, as though he was not acting like a big old chicken, and proceeded to answer. Jeez, I wonder what he does in a situation where real panic might be a concern.
We did find the parade route, we watched the beginning and darted over to the park for the replay at the other end. For the rest of the event, I had to listen to everyone in the car shouting, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” every time I turned a corner.
The after party in the park was fun too. Turns out one of Em’s school friends is in a family of family too. Who knew? Em was pleased at this news. The girls have a playdate set for Monday. Em joined me for this event. We had a great time and I got some good pictures (see my “Stuff I Like” page for more).
And, to top the day off, Ben, Ben, my buddy and I all went to see the Sacramento Monarchs whoop all over new league team with the awful disco-era sky blue and yellow away jerseys, the Chicago Sky, winning 80-70. My buddy, an amateur comedian, seems to love to make me laugh and did such a good job last night I think I spent a full quarter trying to control my laughing fit so I could pay attention to the game. Probably a good thing as this was not the usual high-energy game I’m used to seeing, I didn’t recognize half the players, and my team made a lot of mistakes. Still it was great, and I was rewarded with hugs on two different occasions by Ben after the game.
Group conformity scares the pants off me because it's so often a prelude to cruelty towards anyone who doesn't want to -- or can't -- join the Big Parade.~ Bette Midler
Published on: Jun 11, 2006
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