[Madelaine Amee]

Memorial Day brings back some really special memories for us. During our real life we lived in suburban areas that always had the traditional small town Memorial Day Parade. Our town parade passed the bottom of our little road, we would stand on the corner waving our little flags and wait for the parade, you could hear the band before the parade came into sight and the anticipation in the crowd would get louder and louder and the children would get more and more excited.

Our Parade always started with the police chief's car followed by the police on foot, then the high school band and the cheer leaders, then we would get whatever Politician decided to join our parade, and then Town dignitaries of all shapes and sizes ...................... Everything would end up at the Village Green and there would be a huge hamburger and hot dog cookout. The hamburgers were like hockey pucks and the hot dogs were not great, but all your neighbors would be there and the band would play and everyone would have a great time. It was all very small town hokey stuff, but so much fun.

Unfortunately, I was just told that the Parade does not happen any more! Small town America seems to be disappearing, but at least we have some great memories.