There are certain moments in life that must be qualified as “Bucket List” worthy. Personally, I always wanted to go to London and go on the Eye and I was lucky enough to check that off when I was sixteen. For some, it might be celebrating New Year’s Eve in Times Square. (Personally, I don’t understand this one. How do you go to the bathroom? But that’s just me.) While others may want to jump out of an airplane, I am not one of those people but whatever floats your boat. For my cousin Aubrey, who happens to live in Wisconsin, attending the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was a box that needed checking.
Cramming into my dad’s Ford Explorer at 5:30 a.m. was what this task entailed. By 7 a.m., we – the pseudo-Griswalds – were stuck to the glass windows of the twenty fifth floor of the Newscorp building on the Avenue of the Americas, aka my dad’s office, waiting for the first float to prance down the block. Once the Macy’s star sauntered down the street, we took our positions across from Radio City behind a mass of people and selfie-sticks.
With cold rain dripping down our noses and hand warmers stuffed inside our gloves, we snapped pictures of Snoopy, Papa Smurf, and Spiderman. We cheered for our favorite stars – some of us, (*ahem* my cousin, Adam), fangirled and screamed for Meghan Trainer to marry them – and contemplated incarceration when Nick Jonas waved at us. (I’ll admit it, I thought about jumping the fence.) The Aflac duck swirled through the street and the Pillsbury Dough boy swerved slightly out of control and we watched, savoring the moment – or in the words of my sister who jumped on me at 4:30 that morning, the “once in a lifetime experience” – and absorbing the blessing of the family around us. On that damp and chilly Thanksgiving morning, we were thankful for the moment, the unchecked box that brought us together.
Photo Credit: Cristina Lupo