Who Doesn't Love A Parade?

 It was a thing of beauty, that parade, and we all had a marvelous time. Gibson sat so still on his mama's lap, completely overwhelmed, maybe, perhaps tired too, but he bounced and clapped his hands to the bands and the sweetest thing I've ever seen was the way he kissed his Auntie May after it was all over. She asked for a kiss and he gave her one, right on the mouth of course, and then he leaned over and gave me one and then he leaned back into May and then back to me and then he decided that May was the one truly worth kissing and he gave her at least five of the most deliberate, somber, sweet kisses I have ever seen in my life. 

She was so delighted.

And later he smiled for the camera while his Boppy was holding him.

Wenches and beauty queens and school board members alike couldn't help but walk over to the boy and gently slip necklaces over his head. 

Now Owen, he was ALL about it. When we got there he immediately joined up with a pack of other kids and began to play hide-and-seek right on the front sidewalk and they were joyous. When the parade started, he remembered about beads and candy and by the time it was all over, he and his grandfather had collected enough booty to require a shopping bag to put it all in.

The best front row seats you can get. 

Cheryl Hines was the Grand Master and she lead the whole thing, sitting on a white convertible. One of my favorite things about Hank's party is the way the people in the parade react to the party crowd which looks a little like this.

Ms. Cheryl laughed and waved at the group standing up there who were hooting and yelling for her to come and party. She made the "call me" motion with thumb and little finger extended by her ear. I'm sorry I didn't get that one but here's what I did get. 

Here's another lady from the parade reacting to the group.

She knocked me out. It was like while all the other ladies in her group were dressed up with velvet-corseted bosoms and long, flowing skirts, she decided to rock her very own style. And I dug it.

Here's the Jefferson County (where I live) Watermelon Queen. Had to snap that one.

They kept to the far side of the street. One doesn't blame them.

Here's a darling little cutie. She looked so proud to be in the parade wearing her gown and long white gloves. 

And what can you say? It ain't a parade in the south without some beauty queens, without some sort of faux royal court. 

Here's one of our Real, True Royal Court.

TOGI!

After I took the picture I said, "Bloggable?"

"Always," he answered. 

Togi's latest Facebook offering is this quote of his: "So science says I evolved from apes but I'm pretty sure I evolved from heterosexuals."

Togi is pretty much the main reason I visit Facebook. 

So yes, it was a fabulous parade party. Oh! And there was food! Of course. And a keg of beer somewhere I think. One of these years I'm going to make Bloody Mary's and take a thermos. Maybe. I still needed a nap this afternoon and all I drank was water. 

Here's the big, posed picture after the whole thing was over, when the police cars and motorcycles and Shriners and beauty queens and City Commissioners and marching bands and movie stars and Various Krews and Kings and Queens had passed and left us all to the glory of a completely blue-skyed gorgeous day. 

I'm so glad we went. 

And oh! I'm not leaving for Asheville until Monday morning. Lis had a gig today and just couldn't work out the logistics of fitting everything for that into the car along with all her cake-baking equipment and clothes. No big deal. 

Thanks for coming along, y'all.

So much love...Ms. Moon

Giving Birth Day

Good morning, good morning and you know how I hate holidays but my children's birthdays are high and holy holidays for me, good ones, the best ones.
I am thrown right back to the moments when I first held them in my arms after that every-time-not-to-be-believed agony of labor, that final moment when my body opened completely and every power I had, known and unknown, came together to push that child into life.
And then, that transcendent millisecond when the pain was simply gone and the child was in my arms (one of the many wonderful things about home birth) and just like that...
I was different, the world was different, there was another life on this earth and I had made that happen and my heart broke and shattered and reformed and a baby cried and was taken to breast and there was so much joy that I cannot even begin to tell you.

This is a good thing to remember. We slog through our days, we have good moments, we have ecstatic moments, we have despairing and fearing and horrible moments but there are no moments like those in which we held our babies for the first time. Those of us who have given birth know this and although we know we are not special for having given birth, we know we are blessed.

I wrote about Hank's birth here.
That was four years ago.
Three years ago I wrote this.

And today I am writing this, on this good morning in Lloyd, Florida and I am thinking back to that young hippie woman whose world, after twenty-eight hours of labor (what a slow baby-haver I am!) was completely changed, rearranged, and I knew for the first time what love truly was and here we are, all these years later and Hank is my good man-son, still my baby, the man who sat up all night and kept watch as his sister gave birth to his nephew, my grandson, who brings that boy tattoos for his arms, who calls me when he's worried about me, who tells me he loves me, who is stronger than any man I've ever known and tender and loving and kind and fierce and able and so damn smart.
We call him our "go to guy for your immediate information needs," and at least once a week, one of us calls him to ask about some arcane bit of information and he always knows it or can get back with us with the answer in seconds.

Happy Birthday, Hank. Thank you for making me a mother. Thank you for everything you are and will be and I know that this year is going to be one of change and flux, but I also know that you are going to make that into something amazingly good. Because that's the way you are. Amazingly good and a power for love and courage and humor and joy on this earth.

All of my love...Your mother