July 2, 2015

On Saturday I am going down to Cape Cod and help my beautiful daughter and the company she works for display a float in the Hyannis, Massachusetts Fourth of July Parade! It’s been a long time since I was marching in any parades.

When my son was about ten years old he became obsessed with two things; American History and Drumming! So he decided he wanted to become part of the Fife and Drum Corps that was in Weymouth, Massachusetts. We went to a meeting one night and after listening to what some old men were saying he decided that, yes, this is what he wanted to do.

Before we left the building a man approached us to ask if my son might be interested in becoming the one (and only) drummer for the Colonial Marine contingent for the same Corps.

We were both pretty surprised since he had yet to hear my son drum. (He was pretty good but this man didn’t know that!)

After a few days thought, my son decided that it might be very cool to be the only drummer in a corps of marchers. What they neglected to tell us was that “your Mom will have to make a uniform for you”. So in the beginning of summer I was working with white wool for the pants and vest, and red wool with green trim for the jacket and white cotton with lace for the shirt/blouse and 29 separate button holes! I had an old machine. It didn’t even have a back button much less a button hole maker. Yet it came out beautifully and he was a real living drummer boy!

So that’s what I always think of when we see a parade. And marching in one? Well, truth be told, I ended up making a uniform for my husband as well, a formal dress for me and an everyday dress for my daughter. So I was one of three or four wives/daughters who marched in the parades honoring men who had died to make us a free nation.

That’s what the Fourth of July is . . . or should be!

Ginny, The older, funner granny