Basekamp Laundry Mountain

My kids are 6.5, 6.5 & 5.2 years old. They have never been to a parade. They have seen Macy’s parade on Thanksgiving & a bit of the one’s on New Year’s but have no real concept that everyday people actually go to & SEE these things in person. Having preemies that include twins with trachs, and a 5 year old with her own respiratory issues, fall & winter & early spring are times spent hunkering down away from germs, versus being out attending events. Group activities like parades or fairs never make the cut as “worth the risk” when thinking about my kids vulnerabilities.

As we began talking about Thanksgiving, my son remembered the Thanksgiving parade we have watched the last few years. (We are not a TV-watching family. TV is an ‘event’ in our home- so fairly memorable.) He asked if the parade was going to happen on Thanksgiving again- perseverative question cycles are a daily occurrence. I told him that it would be on and since that day about a week ago, he has checked in about 3 or 4 thousand times on the topic. (Thank you Autism)

I checked our town website and found out WE have a Veteran’s Day parade & that it was early Sunday afternoon. It happened to fall between all the multiple medical treatments that make up our life as a family with 3 complex medical kiddos, and it seemed reasonable to delay lunch to make it happen. He & his sister’s were excited to be going to see their first parade.

We drove downtown because my kids fatigue levels are way too high to make a half mile walk. By the time we parked, packed the stroller, got my 2 weakest kids buckled in, it was very near time for the parade to start. Altho it was just a short walk to the firehouse, it took us until 1:01p to get there. Yep. ONE MINUTE after the parade began. They saw the veteran’s on motorcycles and the fire engine that were the tail end of the parade. We tried to catch up- I put my other child on my shoulders so I could walk briskly while pushing the other 2. They saw the backs of our high school marching band…

Basically, my kids ALMOST saw their first parade this weekend.

But they enjoyed themselves anyway.