Why shouldn’t life be like a parade.
Think about that for a moment . . .
We witness the parade of so many things.
If we step back and look, we see so many things that parade before us. Each sunrise. each sunset. The days. The years. People, trends, ideas and actions. They all parade past us on our crazy journey through life.
Everyone loves a parade. And, if they don’t love it, they sure as heck would stop to watch it for a moment or two.
Nothing is more American than a parade. Americans have loved them since they began this country. We love to show off. We love to get together as groups, and we certainly love to honor our best and brightest; our heroes and heroines
Saturday night at Bumper’s Landing, the big event was the annual Parade Of Lights on the mighty Clinton River.
At dusk the boats glide past, lighting up the evening, while Carl and I do our best to create a soundtrack to the aquatic phenomenon.
When we arrived much earlier in the day to set up our equipment for the night, it was interesting that there were less people there than on usual Saturdays. Since the parade was not due to begin for several hours, it appeared that many would wait until later to venture out.
Another contributing factor to the smaller than usual turnout was Kenny Chesney. He, of course is a huge fan favorite of the boat people. So given those two factors, it took a little while until the deck was its’ usual packed self. We could sense early on that the night would begin slow and eventually crescendo into what we have come to expect as the usual/unusual craziness tat is Bumper’s Landing.
Translation: we don’t have a clue what is going to happen next.
Something always does, though, you can always count on that.
Tonight, it was the “Lady with one shoe” dance show. She and her partner, commandeered the deck as their own private dance studio, completely enthralling everyone that would watch with their visual artistry. Enthralling everyone, until from the sheer force of her enchanting twisty turny diva-like gyrations, her flip-flop exploded with delight.
At that point, the Bumper’s staff was forced to invoke the time honored mantra: No shoes, no shirt, no service! Pretty universal acceptable really. Got to be a heath code thingy of some sort.
Well, the men certainly were not fans of that rule as the young lady was eventually relieved of her entertaining duties for the night. Damn!
So back to the music. We stepped up the next set as the deck began to fill for the evenings’ eventual high point.
Now there were many fun people desendinbg on the waterfront, many of them dressed up and ready to take on the glow of the nighttimes’ festivities.
On our break, we were given many requests to play some favorites that we might overlook ourselves. We talked with lots of people who thanked us for the great music selections as we musically unveiled them.
There were people and pets and bachelorettes a-plenty. Now, it was getting packed as evening fell and the mood grew expectant.
Though the parade seemed shorter this year, the lights did not disappoint. There were many oohs and ahhhs as the water-crafts meandered past.
We finished strong, giving the dancers all they could handle, right up to the last note fell.
However, the finish-line for this particular night was moved to provide the maximum enjoyment for the patrons and on-lookers.
The powers-that-be at Bumper’s Landing, know how to put on a party, and did everything they could do so that this one would not end just yet.
We got the green light to play until one O’clock!
So, we began our “final” set at ten O’clock, and played until about eleven thirty. At that time, we were told that we could play until one. We took a five minute break and launched right into more crowd-pleasing dance music.
One O’clock seemed only moments away as the rest of the night was a mere blur. Our final song reverberated down the water as another year’s parade faded into memory.
All in all, Carl and I had entertained for more than seven hours. Long day, long night, but well worth it. The patrons all seem to genuinely appreciate everything we do to help them have a wonderful evening.
Sometimes we actually see the things we do from the distance it takes to step away and objectively evaluate our hard work..
We do our best. We prepare. We execute. We evaluate. The days go by, one by one. The years arrive and then retreat, faster and faster as we age.
We consider ourselves truly blessed to be able to do what we do at our age, when so many of our contemporaries have long since retired.
Each and every sunrise and sunset provide us the time we need to create our eventual legacy.
. . . A parade of lights that will pass us by if we let it.
Rb
