Pass the Tissues

There are a lot of things my town does right, and one of them is our Veteran’s Day parade. Every November 11th as I stand on a street corner waving at veterans and listening to the shouts of children I feel very pleased to live in small town middle America where the people take great pride in stopping work long enough to wave some flags and show their gratitude for freedom. We don’t squabble over saying a prayer at football games, or saying Merry Christmas either, but that’s another post for another day. We keep it pretty simple around here and don’t get too knotted up in political correctness. We’re fine and dandy with showing our patriotism, and that’s why our Veteran’s Day parade is so much fun. But as Truvie says in Steel Magnolias, laughter through tears is one of my favorite emotions, so I usually don’t get through the parade without a few tears.

It’s the children. They do it to me every time. With their cute little faces and enthusiasm. School buses roll into our downtown area right before the parade, unloading hundreds of children who line the parade route and wave and shout words of thanks to the veterans walking and riding by.

The sap in me usually starts getting misty eyed even before the first step. There’s just something about seeing children with flags mingling with old folks that gets my tear ducts stirred up, especially when the kids starting chanting “U-S-A”.

I actually held it together pretty well this year until….until this girl had to go and do this right in the middle of the street:

And then…and then this little boy did this:

And it just sent me over the edge.

Good grief. I should buy stock in Kleenex.