Things have been a lot better the last few days. That's why I haven't been blogging. It seems like I only blog when I've got something I've just got to get off my chest. And, that usually is the case when I'm irritated about somebody or something.
I'm kinda sick right at the moment. I had been fighting off a sore throat for about a week when one of my nieces needed me to walk with her and her brownie troop in the Christmas parade. We ran up and down the parade route giving out candy. After we ran out of candy, we sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and yelled Merry Christmas a thousand times. It was really cold. My intention, being there, was to watch my niece Micah and make sure that she didn't find some little friend of hers and get to talking and get left behind by the parade. Then, she'd get scared because she wouldn't know where she was or how to get back to where she was supposed to be. She's very impulsive on the one hand, very, very generous, but a real worry-wart when something unexpected happens. She gets herself in jams with her impulsive, wonder-where-she-will nature. Then, she gets really scared that the whole world is never going to be set right again. She reminds me so much of myself. I love her. The problem was, I am just like her in some ways. As much as she might have been a first grader, she really had the right idea. The city had passed an ordinance that people in the parade could not throw candy. Our little brownie troupe was told that we had to go to each little boy and girl and give them a piece of candy, up close and personal. Well, I guess the other little kids and adults saw the ridiculousness of this suggestion as soon as the parade started out. The roads were very wide. It was hard to run over to one side of the road and distribute candy and then catch back up to where you were supposed to be in the parade. Then, try to catch the kids on the other side of the parade route. It was just impossible. She couldn't bear to see anybody get left out. So, at first, we were falling way behind the rest of our brownie troupe. That's what you get for trying to follow the rules. It was fun, though. It's too bad her sister couldn't have gone. About halfway through the parade route, she sat down in the wagon I was pulling for that purpose. She just looked exhausted, kind of shell-shocked, overstimulated. I turned around to see how she was doing. I encouraged her to wave at the crowd while she was sitting there. That got her motor turning again. She loves attention. She couldn't sit still while there was the opportunity to get attention. She's like a little sprite, dancing from tree to tree, a glorious vision that you're not sure you saw. I hope she didn't come down sick, too. Her sister had strep throat. That's why she couldn't go in the parade.
