Journey of a Thousand Miles: The Big Parade

Friday, December 4, 2009

The Big Parade

Tonight was the Santa Claus Parade here in Red Lake. It’s a huge deal here. An amazing event! There are well-over 4 floats and a couple police cars and ~~fire trucks~~ a fire truck and… Well anyway, it’s still a big deal for us. Everyone shows up.

Tonight was a beautiful night for it. It was snowing huge, fluffy snowflakes. Unfortunately, we got to the parade route 2 minutes after it started and missed about a large portion of the event. Being in a small town, we, of course, knew the people we happened to be standing next to. The boys got candy, we huddled together to stay warm, and we waved to people on the floats for 10 exciting minutes!

Our friend standing next to us was overwhelmed with the excitement. She turned to me and gushed, "This parade- It's goes on for minutes and minutes!"

He he. She makes me laugh.

But, even as I affectionately mock the Big Parade, I love that the whole town turns out for this community event. And afterward, everyone is invited to the Canadian Legion for snacks. There are some special things about being part of a small, isolated community. It makes not having a McDonald's or a Wal-mart a little easier to handle. :)

2 comments:

Twila said...: I love your attitude Karen, your the greatest! and I love you getting into the small town spirit!!
mom h.; December 5, 2009 at 10:40 AM
LaRonda said...: Oh yes! How I remember the Christmas parade and the bag of candy from the Legion. Great memories!
Way to keep the small town spirit :-); December 6, 2009 at 3:07 PM

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"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

July 1, 2008
This journey so far has taken me one thousand and four miles from my hometown, but I’m having trouble putting my finger on the single step that began it all. Was it Monday afternoon at the border when they gave me my official document allowing me to pass? Was it Saturday morning when we started the car and drove out of Goshen in our funny little caravan? Was it in February when we came up to Red Lake for a job interview at the hospital? Was it two Christmases ago being up here with Kendall’s family and all of us rating our desire to live up here? (I can’t say my number on a scale of 1 – 100 was high, but it was the highest of all the in-laws, so I guess I’m the chosen one.) Was it three years ago almost to the day that Kendall first said, “What if we’d move up here?” (I tried to ignore that one for several months, thinking surely it would go away.) Or was it June 10, 2000 when I married Kendall and made some solemn promises before God and all these witnesses? Was it a night before Kendall and I were married when we talked about moving to Red Lake? (It was a far off and romantic possibility at that time.) Or was it living in and visiting different cultures at different times in my life? Could the first step have been when my parents brought me as a baby to this same area for a year of voluntary service? (Kendall wasn’t born yet, but I surely saw his parents as they chatted with mine from time to time.) What about when my dad lived on a nearby reserve for two years before he was married? Or when my mom visited this town with her family as a teenager? Or maybe it had something to do with choices my grandparents made? Or other ancestors farther back?

At any rate, moving into this house where I slept for a few weeks as a baby and where my dad stayed as a teenager, has made me very aware of roots. And how they affect our lives and choices and passions.

I suspect there is no single step that began our move a thousand miles away from Indiana. It seems, rather, to be a coming together of so many different factors. (Not the least of which is marrying a man who has taken this land as a very part of his being. And for all the ways I can tease him and get annoyed at some of his woodsman ways, I really do mean that in a reverent and respectful way.)

So here we are, a thousand miles from nowhere. (Oops…I meant a thousand miles from Goshen.) I know that we safely made the journey here, but mostly our journey is just beginning. And mostly I’m excited.

Journey of a Thousand Miles

Friday, December 4, 2009

The Big Parade

2 comments:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

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