Long Pants

A human and animal packed day

I wore long pants today for the first time in around six months. It was both sad and fun.

I wished I had worn long pants to the parade this morning. It was a lot cooler than it looked outside and as the morning progressed the temperature dropped. My legs were cold.

I’m such a disgusting recluse that I went into a mild vibratory shock walking through the crowds. This year’s attendance was up significantly from last year’s parade. I had not been around so many humans in a long time. It helped remind me that I am part of their species.

I ran into a few people I know and every single one of them asked me, So where ya working now? I wish I had prepared a response before leaving home but I didn’t so I just shrugged my shoulders and said, Nowhere.

And then I heard my name being called out; Grandpa! Grandpa!

Running toward me to give me a double hug were my two delightful granddaughters. I ended up watching the rest of the parade with them. It got way more fun.

My favorite part of the parade was the llamas. There were about fifteen of them. They were wearing bows and ribbons and skirts and a couple of them were wearing hats. And their babies were so cute!

Sadly, there were no goats in this year’s parade but there were some miniature horses, several normal sized horses and one gigantic humongous white horse pulling a chariot with a man dressed as a Roman centurion. Emblazoned on the side of the chariot were the words, First Presbyterian Church. I wasn’t sure what that had to do with Jesus but what do I know?

My oldest granddaughter pointed and said, “Grandpa that’s a chariot with a Roman centurion in it.”

“Wow, you sure are smart.”

“Yup. I know.”

“It’s because you read so many books, right?”

“Nah. It’s because I watch so many movies.”

After reading so many books to her and listening as she read books to me, after doing everything I could to get her to fall in love with books and learning, this was a bit sad to hear.

“So are you the smartest kid in your new fourth grade class?”

“Nah. I don’t care about that anymore.”

Another dagger in my heart.

There were three marching bands; one from our local high school and two from high schools in nearby towns — including our high school’s arch rival. I noticed that positioned in front of the rival high school’s band were two horses with riders. I wondered if this was intentional.

After the parade and after kissing the girlies good-bye I rushed home and put on long pants. And in that moment summer was truly and officially over.

Then I went right back outside to go get roasted green chile. Today was the last day of roasting this year. I had a delightful conversation with the green chile people. Then I went to the park where an arts and crafts fair was in full swing and a band made up of gray-haired seniors was playing in the band shell and the air was thick with the smell of carnival food.

When I finally got home from a day of people and animals it was eerily quiet in my apartment. Of course it is always eerily quiet in my apartment, the only sound being the soft rat-a-tat-tat of my laptop keyboard, but following all that loud humanity I experienced, it seemed way more eerily quiet than normal. It reminded me of when I was in the marching band in high school a hundred years ago. Every year we played the half-time show at the Sun Bowl in front of almost a hundred thousand people. For several hours we were immersed in the thunderous noise of humankind. It was also incredibly loud in the school bus coming back. And when I got home the silence was downright haunting. The contrast was sad, depressing, lonely.

Of course now, a hundred years later, I relish the silence. I crave it. I rejoice in it. I luxuriate in it.

But today I was reminded that I am weird. I am an anti-social recluse. Most importantly, I was reminded how healthy and invigorating it can be to occasionally get a dose of the cacophony of mass humankind. I’ve decided that parades can be a good thing.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t miss my recent story about an alien from outer space…