I live on a parade route.
Not a street they block off for holidays and annual parades …
An Everyday Parade…
right outside my window!
We moved here a year and a half ago; downtown, across from the river. Next to the river, a walking trail.
My husband has always wanted to live downtown with one insistent “need”. He “needed” a garage. Knowing garages downtown are rare as hen’s teeth, I added my own “need” to the list. I teased, “If you get a garage, I get a river view.” River-views are “rarer than hen’s teeth”, and would never fit our budget. This silly gown-up game went on for years, acknowledging our “needs” were just wishes and dreams.
One unsuspecting day, it wasn’t a game, but a real opportunity which led to us moving downtown with both our silly-game-wishes fulfilled. I never dreamed it would come true! I call it my “River Cottage”. I pretend I’m on vacation, every time I pass the window.
Little did we know, we moved onto a vibrant, active daily “parade route”, affectionately named.
My Parade
During every daylight hour, travelers are on the path across the street. When the temperatures rise, the parade swells in numbers. When the river gets above flood stage, like last week, everybody and their brother comes to see and take pictures. No worries, we are not in the floodplain.
Fisherman, kayakers, tubers, sunbathers, hammock people (find two trees/string it up), picnickers, college students with books (“studying” ha), swimmers, and many more gather at water’s edge. But, they are only supplemental to the real parade.
The “Real Parade” is on the path: every kind of person, contraption, movement, and action imaginable. Walkers, joggers, runners, dancers who might be runners, bikers, skateboarders, dogs, scooters (electric and not), strollers, carriers, wagons, tricycles, walkers, dogs, canes, wheelchairs, recumbent bikes, Segways, Rollerblades, unicycles (electric and not), dogs, flag carriers, racers, phone talkers, etc.. You can’t even imagine. I’ve not even mentioned the costumes, which are as plentiful, fanciful, and diverse as the movers that fill them.
My parade makes me smile. A few paraders make me laugh. Some elicit a gasp. A shock or two has happened. A “what?” has been uttered. But, I find myself wanting to open the front door and cheer for the parade. Especially, those who find moving difficult: they inspire me. If I thought I wouldn’t scare them to death, I would, but, I imagine the conversation … “this crazy lady, stood on her front porch this morning yelling at me. I don’t know what she was screaming about.” (The river mutes everything.) I’d love to applaud or shout-out, “you go girl”, often. Maybe, even, handout trophies.
Your Parade
Parades happen every day wherever we are; in the store, at school, at work, in traffic, on social media, on the sidewalk, etc..
I find this crossing my mind,
God created every one of our parade participants in His image.
What about them looks like God? Because there is something!
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness …
Genesis 1:26
God is an infinitely diverse Creator. But, we all have this in common … we were created in His image. There is something in everyone that resembles God … He put it there!
I love to imagine what looks like God in someone or ask Him to show me. Especially, when people seem vastly different from me. It reminds me, they are valued and loved, as much as I am.
God is in your parade, in fact, all over it.
(I’m giggling thinking about God on the electric unicycle or dance-jogging, but He’s there!)
Look for Him!
Tell me about your parade.
“Hold on, there’s my fav … the stilt walker, I think I’ll pogo-stick alongside her today!”,
Feel free to share with a friend(s).
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Elaine Stone 