A VERY NATICK JULY 4!

"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." (Romans 14:5)

Sometimes people are surprised when I tell them that my favorite holiday is the 4th of July. (My second favorite is Thanksgiving Day and probably my third favorite is Patriots Day which is only a holiday in Massachusetts and Maine.) They're surprised that it's not Christmas, especially since I am a minister. In many respects, I don't like Christmas, but that's a topic for another day. I was SO happy that I only had to work in the late afternoon and early evening yesterday so I got to attend some 4th of July events.

I lived in Framingham for twenty-four years. During that time, I began attending the Natick Fourth of July parade. (For those of you who are NOT "locals" it's pronounced "NAY-tick" with a long A sound.) Their parades were longer and better in the 1990s but they are still very good. I was thrilled to attend the Natick parade yesterday. It must have been around my 20th Natick parade. I did not attend last year's as I was working on Independence Day morning last year. My daughter Rachel usually attends the parade with me. I really missed her being with me...she's currently on vacation in Missouri.

It was POURING rain when I arrived to watch the parade around 9. I was there with my foldup canvas chair and umbrella. I noticed some people had set up canvas chairs along the route ahead of time. All were SOAKED and each had a pool of water in the seat part! I found a place and set up, carefully holding the umbrella. There was about twenty feet on either side of me with no chairs set up. The sun broke through and the parade started a little late.

I love to watch the antique and classic cars that drive in a caravan in the early part of the parade. Usually there are at least forty of them. Yesterday there were only twelve. I suspect a lot of classic car owners did not want to take their vehicles out in the rain. My friend, the Rev. Rich Hurst is usually in the parade driving his father Skip's 1939 Ford convertible. He was in the parade in the car yesterday but his son was driving.

The next part may sound very racist, and I DON'T mean it that way. I'm just reporting what happened and how I felt. An elderly Chinese man walked across the street, and set up his chair DIRECTLY to my left. It was somewhat uncomfortable. Within five minutes, the Chinese man's relatives arrived; his wife, a couple in their thirties, and the couple's young children. Some set up chairs to my left and some set up chairs to my right. They were actively and eagerly talking to each other in Chinese. At times, the older man would stand taking photos and blocking my view. I felt like a piece of furniture in the Chinese family's living room; or something like that. I thought about getting up and moving, but I did not want to come across as hostile or racist. Congressman Ed Markey and his entourage walked by as part of the parade. The older Chinese guy got all excited making comments in Chinese. The only think I could understand is "Ed Markey...Ed Markey". I remained sitting there but it was uncomfortable for me. The Chinese family seemed very nice and the little kids were cute. I was just not sure why a family would cluster all around a person who was already sitting there and then proceed to function as though that person were not there!

One person I love to see in the parade is Rex Trailer. Rex had a VERY popular childrens' television show ("Boomtown") n Channel 4 Boston in from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. He's a genuine cowboy. Each week there was a group of probably thirty kids on the show as an on-air audience. I was on Boomtown in December of 1960. Back in the 1990s, Rex still rode a horse in the parade waving at everyone. Around five years ago, he began riding on a float, singing and playing his guitar. Yesterday, he was on a small wagon with several other folks pulled by a horse. Directly behind this wagon was a silver Ford pickup truck with banners advertising Red Trailer's website.

The weirdest entry in the parade was "Occupy Natick". I did not even know there WAS an "Occupy Natick" group. Someone took a video clip of the Occupy Natick people marching in the parade and posted it on youtube. It is found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eih1QwUHTp4

The person who posted that video missed most of the BEST PART of the Occupy Natick marchers, however. The finale of that group was a float with a large figure of a Wall Street tycoon holding money bags...marchers around the float held up signs that read "BOO!" and "HISS!" It looked like something out of Saturday Night Live! The video on youtube does not show the Wall Street tycoon figure and only shows one woman holding up a "BOO!" sign.

My friend Rich Hurst and his family host a large cookout every July 4 at Rich's parents' home in Natick. I have gone for the past three or four years. It was my privilege to be part of that cookout again this year. Three of us did the grilling, and all of us were named "Bob"! You know that Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann"? Well, we could have had that song playing with the words sung as "BOB - BOB - BOB" and that was US yesterday!

Well, I had to change into my answering service uniform and go to work in the mid-afternoon. It sort of felt like Cinderella's chariot turning into a pumpkin, but it was all fun while it lasted...a VERY Natick July 4!