For the past three decades, the Waukesha Christmas parade has been a part of my family’s lives.
A really big part.
If the kids weren’t in the parade, which was over half of those years, then we were there watching.
When you hear people on the news say that Waukesha is a very tight knit community, they really mean it. If we were in the parade, we waved to friends sitting along the route. If we were watching, we were waving to all our friends in the parade.
When the older kids were little, they would be in the parade with various groups. Baton, dance class, girl scouts, boy scouts, soccer club, and lots of other groups that I can’t remember.
When they got older, the Christmas parade was all about marching band.
The first time that my oldest daughter went to the parade with her marching band at Waukesha South, many years ago, I had no idea that I was supposed to get back to the school as soon as they were done.
The twins and I watched the parade until it was done and then we headed to the high school. My poor daughter was standing in the dark hallway of a dark school waiting at the door for me. All alone. She was bawling and I felt like the worst parent ever!
After that year, I either sat at the end of the parade and left when they were done, or I walked along next to them through the whole parade. None of the other kids were ever left at the school alone.
During the few years between the older kids and the twins when none of them were in marching band, there was 4-H. Those years, we got to ride on a flat bed truck which was nice.
This year, we weren’t at the parade.
I thought about taking my grandbaby but thank goodness the wind picked up that day. It got so cold and none of us needed to be there.
We have friends who were in the Christmas parade, or who were there watching the parade. Our old neighbor was there with his little 4 year old son. My daughter’s friend was in the parade with Carroll University and her brother was in the Waukesha South marching band. They’re both okay.
I’m so thankful.
But I’m so sad for all the people who weren’t okay and all the people who saw it happen. I’m sad for all the kids that won’t remember how much fun they had but only remember the scary stuff that happened that day.
I’m sad for Waukesha, a beautiful community full of beautiful souls and I’m sad for the memories that won’t be made in the future because of what happened this year. It breaks my heart.