This year the Brookside St. Patrick’s Warm-up Parade snuck up on us. And, frankly, we were not in the mood. Winter had managed to get us down. We were snapping at each other about little details daily. This is not like us. We are snappy about stuff all the time, because we read too much news and care sometimes too much about the condition of the world. But we are not often snappy at each other. This year the parade preparation had us acting like snapping turtles. (At least they are green, which is somewhat in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day.)
So we arrived at the parade grounds with fake smiles on our faces – the ol’ “fake it to make it” trick. As the parade began, we looked at each other and silently shared, “Let’s get this done.” With each step of the parade, our real smiles grew. Every shout out helped heal our frustration. The bright and warm sunshine burned off the winter fatigue. As we pulled onto the final block, we looked at each other and smiled – giant smiles of pure joy. There was nothing fake about these smiles.
We were bathed in our community and the power of sunshine and happy people. In one short mile, we were healed. We lingered at the end and resisted letting it come to an end.
Until next year….
Casey & Sloane Simmons
Sisters & Co-owners
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