St. Patty's Parade

Welcome to our St. Patrick's Day special Memory Lane!  We are sharing our favorite St. Patty's memories, or any memory for that matter.  So please join in, link in, and share your memories!




My husband and I have lived many places in our married life and we can't blame all of it on the military.  We were nomadic and wandered around a bit doing school here and there while we tried to figure out who we were going to be when we grew up.

We spent most of our undergrad time in Chicago, IL.  The St. Patrick's Day parade was a huge thing, well St. Patty's was a huge thing period!!  The Irish descendants made the city 'green with envy' all over the place!!!  It was wonderful and festive and charming all at the same time.  We really enjoyed the many things we could do in that city! 

One such year I had the opportunity to participate in the parade and I jumped at the chance!  I was a reservist on the southern side of the city doing my weekends and summers nearby.  They asked for volunteers to do the color guard portion of the parade.  I volunteered and was paired with another short reservist to carry the wooden ceremonial rifles creating bookends around the flags.  We practiced our Drill and Ceremony in the drill hall, turning just so.. making our little line faultless as we executed our motion commands.  Even the practice was fun, it really is a challenge to move as one pretty solid line as you move around :-)

The day of the parade, we lined up, and let me tell you how very busy and noisy it is at the beginning of any parade route.  Folks running around, getting into position, asking for this or that, making sure they are ready for the 2 mile route.  Then the music kicks up and they begin stepping out.  I can't tell you just how much fun it was to march in the St. Patty's Day parade in Chicago.  They even turn the river green for this holiday, so it's a huge thing!!  Walking past miles of little kids waving, watching folks salute or place their hands over their hearts as the flag of our Nation passes by.  It was remarkable!!  It was also very challenging to keep my left arm at a 90* angle, carrying a wooden rifle at just the right place on my shoulder for 2 miles.  Those 2 miles took a VERY long time to walk.  You walk, then pause, walk, then pause, and most of the time when we were paused, we were marching in place because we didn't have enough time to simply "group, halt" because we were going to step out again so quickly. 

I still think the arm cramps, the legs soreness, and the sensation of dehydration was worth it (we marched in our dress uniform).  What a great and fun day it was!!!  And special thanks to my hubby who helped me to remember that event.  No we don't have pictures to share with you all.  We have never been that good at the picture thing.  But I do have a picture of me in uniform that i will share, it was near this time, within a year or so.

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