The weather last weekend was horrible. It snowed north and west of where I live, but it rained buckets here. This kind of stuff often breeds stupid driving and multiple accidents, so I wasn't surprised to hear the sudden shrieking of many, many sirens during the deluge.
I live near the highway ramp, close enough to watch vehicles exit and enter and also close enough to hear the downshifting of big rigs passing by during the night. It doesn't bother me at all. I lived for years with route 495 as my backyard and witnessed numerous interesting events, including a hot air balloon landing on the highway, a small plane putting down on the highway and just missing the overpass, an eighteen-wheeler tipping over while I just happened to be looking out the dining room window, and the crazy non-movement of highway traffic (and subsequently snow-covered vehicles) during the blizzard of 1978.
My instant thought last weekend during this downpouring of buckets of rain, though, was that there must be a massive pile-up on route 93 because the number of sirens and the strength of the sound overwhelmed all other noise, including the music I had playing inside my home.
But, I was wrong. It was no accident. It was the town's Santa Parade.
Not only did I completely forget that this same event tricked me this same way last year, but I was completely befuddled that the town didn't cave to weather concerns when a parade is scheduled. I meandered to an outside window in the hallway to watch the fun (and to stay dry), and was so happy to see the number of kiddos and families who hurried out to catch Santa and the other floats swing by. You see, the people of the neighborhoods don't go to see the parade; the town brings the parade to the people of the neighborhoods. And this year they did so despite the horrible, detestable weather.
Kudos to the parade committee and participants, kudos to the town for following through, and kudos to the families who cared enough to brave the weather and support this great event. After all, with the weather we've been having for the last twenty weeks or so, apparently it's going to rain sheets and walls of water every weekend, anyway. Since we can't beat it, we might as well join it.
