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GUESTBOOK

Saturday morning, we woke up early to go to the Octoberfest of a neighboring town. Note that I said "Octoberfest" with a "c", not with a "k" indicating a German overtone with lots of beer and sauerkraut. Indeed, the festival was dry, celebrating the arrival of autumn and tolling the death knell of festivals until late spring.

We ventured out with the main purpose of seeing Trusty's kids participating in the opening parade. We drove into the park where the vendors were well along into setting up shop. I hung my handicapped blue parking pass in the rearview mirror in the hopes that the man directing cars might see it and wave us to a parking spot a bit more wheelchair friendly than the damp grass, but no, damp grass a good thirty feet away from the nearest pavement it was. My hopes of getting to peruse the festival after the parade wavered; Trusty is easily deterred by such aggravations and as history proves, would not be patient for long before he declared "No mas" and drove us all home.

We parked in south-eastern Ohio at the festival location and traveled on foot (and wheel) to somewhere near Indiana I think, to the genesis of the parade. Along the way, Trusty found a huge bump in the sidewalk and I lurched forward, nearly toppling out of my chair. We made our way to a vacant corner just a block from where the parade began. It was chilly for me in Trusty's shade, but my daughters stood in the sun and never complained about the temperature. Neither did I because I refused to be the irritant that sent us home prematurely.

We didn't have to wait long; Trusty's son the football player and his daughter the cheerleader were about the fourth or fifth float. Trusty's ex-wife accompanied them on foot--why she felt the need to do that is still a mystery. Once they'd seen and moved past us we quickly crossed the street, bisecting the parade, and started back towards the festival grounds. That was also the parade's destination and we met it again near the bridge stretchinng over the Muskingum River. As luck would have it, we fell into step just a few people behind Trusty's kids and their float companions and we followed it to where it stopped. We fell a little behind as Trusty quipped hellos at a few people we passed and by the time we caught up to the float, its occupants had vacated and Trusty's kids were nowhere in sight.

This could have been enough to send us home, but Trusty opted instead to walk around, browsing for both goodies and his children. I'd caught glimpses of lots of needful things so I hoped they wouldn't be found too soon, lest Trusy's purpose in staying be fulfilled and home we would go.

design by fergie

Bits of fire in the sky push me east back home. I used to live in flames but it's hard on the wings. Choke me. Smoke me. Scare me back. You try but you just can't. I peel the layers in my spare time, and you're easy to see through. I can fly, I've discovered on my own. I may be the lesser butterfly but my wings are just as strong. Who are you to tell me to find a place to land? I may be the lesser butterfly but baby watch me glide.