A Monday to Honor our Veterans

Memorial Day is a day to go to the shore, grill some good food, spend time with family and friends, spend time in the finally open pool and unofficially start the summer- at least from where I'm from. After our three-day weekend every May to celebrate Memorial Day my classmates would always reflect on their weekend festivities, which normally included one of the aforementioned activities, with a desire to go back to them and just start summer already. Where I'm from, summer tends to start the second or third week of June, so once Memorial Day hits, all anyone can think of is that final bell ringing allowing them to start their summer.

It's almost summer...

My family doesn't do a picnic; instead we go to my town's annual Memorial Day parade. We have been going to the parade since I was born and every year we sit in the exact same spot- more on that in just a minute. The parade begins at 11AM, so logically we get there by 8AM or 9AM at the absolute latest. It's always an argument as to what time to leave in the morning so we get our seats and don't have to sit around too long. We always settle on just sitting around, which is fine by me. So once we arrive in my town's borough we park next to the Continental Tavern, a local restaurant and get our folding lawn chairs out to claim our territory in front of the restaurant on the sidewalk, right on the curb, slightly from the corner. 

Where we sit. Photo by the Continental Tavern

As soon as we set up, we all sit down for a while and watch the passerby. Whenever people ask what time the parade starts my dad replies, "What parade?" and my mom laughs and says 11AM  we are just crazy and are here 3 hours early. Soon after my mom, brother, and I walk down to WAWA, not Sheetz, to grab some breakfast. We take my dad's order, normally sausage and cheese on a croissant, since he stays back to guard our stuff. If it's one of the years we bring my dog she sometimes stays with him and other times goes on a stroll with us. Depending on how much time we have we take a walk down the canal or just around town before getting the food at WAWA and heading back to keep my dad company. By the time we get back the parade appears to be going backwards as lots of people drive by us to get to the starting point down the road. Whenever we see families we know with kids in the marching band drive by we yell their names and they wave back, honking their horns, as they go to join the rest of the ensemble.

Slowly more and more people begin to set up shop down the main road of the town that the parade will go down. There is always one man who walks down the road selling red poppies to support the troops. We know it's almost parade time when the family who always sits next to us sets up their blanket and the cops arrive to start directing traffic at the intersection. At this point we make sure we don't need to quickly run across the street to Starbucks to "borrow" their bathroom before the parade begins.

The parade is about to begin so the roads are shut down and people swamp the road where they are allowed to stand and getting ready to welcome in the parade. A couple of years the parade began with a flyover of military jets and everyone was cheering. Every other year a cop car leads the parade. Throughout the parade we see local government members, a variety of organizations, our high school's marching band, firefighters, and the most important people of the day- the veterans. 

Photo By: Tim Oller

My favorite part of this parade is the fact that when the veterans do pass us everyone watching stands up and applauds them, to thank them for their service. Once they pass we sit back down and enjoy the rest of the parade until more veterans pass by and then everyone is right back on their feet, no matter how hot out it is. I think it's great how people realize the real reason we have off on Memorial Day is to remember those soldiers we lost and honor the veterans and current soldiers, rather than just going to the beach or pool. However, people should definitely enjoy their unofficial start to summer, just without forgetting about the real meaning behind the day. 

So what do you do to celebrate Memorial Day and honor our troops Please share in the comments.