For those of you without kids or who don’t spend time around kids, let me first introduce you to the birthday parade. About a year ago, when Coronamageddon began, people started driving by the home of a child, in a parade formation, to celebrate the child’s birthday since parties were no longer an option. People decorate their cars, beep their horns and all that. Initially, even the police were joining some of these parades. That’s it. That’s all there is to it, but it turns out that I have a lot of thoughts that have spun out from this.
I need to step away from the birthday parade discussion for a moment to make a confession. I am an ass. Often. Many times my initial reaction to things is negative. Over the years, I’ve realized this and I’ve learned to investigate more and a lot of times I realize that I don’t really agree with my initial reaction. This is one of those times.
When the birthday parades started, I reacted like a grumpy old man. “There we go again, spoiling these kids. It’s a pandemic. They can’t handle missing one party? I didn’t have a birthday party with a bunch of kids every year to celebrate my birthday.” And similar thoughts. But as the pandemic induced restrictions have lingered and we’re about to mark the first anniversary of the beginning of Coronamaggedon, that initial reaction seems far from being a fair judgement. If adults have been and continue to be affected mentally and emotionally by all the changes due to Covid, then of course kids are being affected too. And what’s wrong with a birthday parade anyway? (I still think the police being involved is totally ridiculous)
Exchanging a party for a parade is a show of normalcy. Everything is not on hold. We’re still going to celebrate that birthday! The celebration is still going to involve other people. It’s the basic joy of celebration for the child and everyone else involved. These parades are an example of how we have adapted to what has come our way.
Peeling back a few more layers, it’s more than that too. We are all dealing with things we’ve never dealt with before. People are isolated. People are dealing with financial hardship. Some people are sick and even dying. At best, we’re healthy and ok financially, but we’re still isolated with few choices of how to get out of the house. These birthday parades are a physical show of support. We are not as isolated as we feel. We are in this together. We care about each other. The parades are an example of the bonds we have in our local communities and they’re a way to strengthen those bonds. It doesn’t matter who you voted for when you drive by in a birthday parade.
Part of the fun of the parade is the variety in how people express themselves. Just like everything in life, personalities come through. Some people have balloons, some make signs and banners, some bring gifts. Some people play loud music for the occasion or beep their horn. Some people are popping out of sunroofs or riding in pickup beds. Everybody is different and the way that’s expressed in these parades adds to the experience. Shoot, if everyone thought like me there wouldn’t even be birthday parades.
We recently had a birthday parade drive by our house and it wasn’t just special for the guest of honor. It was special for all of us. I was overwhelmed by the turnout and by everyone’s enthusiasm. I was entertained by the different ways people expressed themselves. One friend drove by that I hadn’t seen in almost an entire year. I was grateful for and humbled by the connections we have in our community. When I thanked one of the other parents, he responded, “Thank you. This gave us a reason to get out of the house.”
We never know what these silly little things might mean to other people and we don’t really know what they’ll mean to us until we experience them. But when we’re reaching out to each other and supporting each other, it’s always worth it. Especially now.