Friday, July 4, 2008

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! I woke up to the sound of rain, thinking oh, no, it's got to stop raining for the parade! The town of Kenai has a parade every year on the 4th of July, and includes anyone in the Peninsula who wants to participate. The Diamond M Ranch enters every year and has won 1st place with their float several times, so our hopes were high for this year. They had asked Ian to play the part of Uncle Sam since he has that nice white beard, and to stand next to a BBQ grill, holding BBQ utinsils. The rest of us, after decorating the float, would sit on top and wave to everyone lined up along the curb. Little Ian decided to wear his military garb - fatique pants, green t-shirt, Grandpa's U.S. Air Force baseball cap, and his blue jacket with a large patch on the back, commemorating fallen soldiers.

Janie and Laura, a couple women from the campground, rode in our truck while we followed Carroll and the rest of the group in his truck, towing the float behind. Once we got to Kenai, we parked the truck and Carroll pulled the float to our spot in the parade. I was really surprised to see how many other entrants were to be in the parade - at least 60! There were about 15 of us from the ranch quickly attaching red, white and blue bunting, flags, ribbons, bows, and signs on the float, which was actually a goose-necked trailer. (Carroll and Joanne, the patriarch and matriarch of the ranch had referred to this goose-necked trailer several times, but I didn't realize what a goose-necked trailer was until I saw it. I really don't know how they come up with these names - why not a snaked trailer, or an s-shaped trailer, or a bent-arm trailer, or an upside-down bent leg trailer?) Anyway, next to us the Shriners blew up a blow-up Shriner on the back of a truck, and one real Shriner mounted an ATV (no little motorcycles for these Shriners). A dozen young girls from the local dance studio practiced their routine on the grass, a man about my age (39) polished his Dorian sportscar which was his entry, a group of 4 middle-aged men practiced their lawn-chair routine, which was pretty cute, and in the distance I could hear a band playing my all time favorite, Proud Mary. The float I hope won first place was a replica of a bald eagle, probably made of paper mache, standing about 12 to 15 feet high, surrounded by American flags, and a recording of Lee Greenwood's "I'm Proud to be an American" playing in the back ground. It was very impressive to say the least.

Once the parade started moving, Laura and I volunteered to walk along the float, which was a requirement of each entrant. Of course, we went very slowly, waving to the spectators and wishing them all a happy 4th of July. I was really surprised to see how many people turned out to watch the parade when the weather was so iffy. (Did I tell you it stopped raining just as we started decorating our float?) We were so fortunate, as the weather held until the end of the parade, then the rain started up again. Some of the floats ahead of us threw candy for the kids on the curb, but no one from our group thought of that, so all they got from us were smiles and waves. One of the ranch guests on our float said that he was surprised to see all the patriotic floats, as in upper state NY where he lives, you only see Mickey Mouse, Cinderella stuff, etc. in their parades. Actually, we've been happily surprised to see how patriotic Alaskans are since we've been here. They are very supportive of our troops, give military discounts in most places, and not only for active duty. It's very nice to see.

At one point in the parade, I noticed an old man standing on the curb with who I imagine was his wife. They appeared to be my about my parents' ages, and the man was in a Navy uniform from WWII. I thought, how wonderful that he wore his old uniform on the 4th of July! I yelled up to little Ian on the float and told him to look at the man in his Navy uniform from WWII. As he turned around to look, I slowed my pace to let the float get ahead of me so I could see the old man more clearly. By the time I could see him again, he was standing at attention, his right hand in solute. I wondered what he was soluting, so followed his line of sight. I was completely stunned to see little Ian standing at attention and soluting the man in return. I imagine Ian had soluted him first, as I've seen do that to soldiers on military installations when they walked past him. That was usually done in fun, but the look on Ian's face and the look on the old soldier's face showed deep respect for the uniform, all it stands for, all that soldier did for our country, and what this young man, some day possibly a soldier, will do for our country. It showed the true meaning of the 4th of July in the United States of America. This is some fabulous country, worth fighting and dying for. I wish I had had my camera at the ready, to snap that moment in history of these two generations, probably 70 years between them, making eye contact with love for their country, respect for the older generation's contributions to it, and deep regard for the uniform he was still wearing. It burned an imprint on my mind, and I hope I never lose it. Such pride of my grandson and an unknown soldier.

Well, the Diamond M Ranch didn't win any prizes this year, but it was fun. The winners were announced later in the afternoon, but we didn't wait around for it. Since there is no Saturday newspaper, we'll have to wait for Sunday's paper to find out who won - I sure hope it was the Bald Eagle!

This evening I had to go to Fred Meyer (Alaskan version of K-Mart) to get salad fixin's for tomorrow night's clam chowder night in the RV park, so little Ian wanted to go to. The last of his spending money was burning a hole in his pocket. He actually wanted to buy a book, though, called Captain Underpants. He's been reading several of the series since he's been with us and wanted to get another one - they're quite funny, actually, although I do hope he never copies the antics of the characters. Not publicly, anyway. Unfortunately, Fred Meyer didn't have any Captain Underpants books, so he wanted to look at the Lego sets. He really loves putting them together and has worked on several since he's been with us. Well, they were on sale - buy two and get one free. Ian looked and looked, but really didn't see any he wanted or didn't already have until I said, "Hey, look at this! It's on sale from $38 to $17." As soon as Ian saw what it was, he got so excited and hugged the box to his chest. Said he'd always wanted it. It was kind of large, so I said it might be hard to get it back home - he said he can mail it. I figured we'll worry about that later, so let him put it in the cart, and we made our way to the check out line. Well, luck would have it that the Lego box rang up at $89 plus tax - over $92! I told the lady it was $38, but on sale for $17, so of course she had to have it checked out. We waited while the line behind us got longer and Ian tried to convince the cashier that his Grandma was right. The lady said maybe someone put the box in the wrong spot - Ian said no, it was in the right spot. Word came back that $89 was the correct price. Someone did put it back in the wrong spot. Well, you can imagine how disappointed Ian was. He handled it quite well, though, and I went through the grandmotherly litany of how we all have disappointments like that from time to time. Oh, yeah, I didn't realize that our disappointments weren't like his, though, that he really, really, really wanted that Lego kit and someone really, really stupid put it in the wrong place on the shelf. I was sympathizing with him when suddenly he stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide, and he said, "I know what to do, Grandma! We can buy two of the cheap Lego sets and get the $89 one for free!!" Oh, if things were only so simple.

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