maybe that's not interesting
but
i'm running with it
i was thinking about something
someone may have said to me, or
more probably
it wasn't really directed at me at all
it was just a passing comment
that i somehow latched onto
and it's resurfaced now
causing a kaleidoscope of memory
and
questions
and
if i were a really good writer
i'd get a story out of it
but
i don't know
this passing comment
was something to do with being in a parade
and i thought:
why is she telling me that
hasn't everyone been in a parade
like, a bunch of times, what's the big deal
but
if i force myself to think about it
probably not
probably most people don't
so my memory
is about the first time i was in a parade
and the skirt i wore
and how that skirt made me happy
the first parade i was ever in
was the st patrick's day parade in my hometown
which is a pretty huge parade, actually
i was going to this small weird school
and somehow we were in it
so what i remember most was jumping in and out of the back of a pickup
and the skirt which i think i wore with a mexican peasant blouse
there was nothing particularly irish about my get up
nobody seemed to care
i think the only parade we ever went to see was
one time
the rodeo parade
that would be a good parade to be in
but every year when the trail riders trotted by outside my workplace
i always felt like it was the best parade ever
and it always kinda took me by surprise
and
for me
that's the best parade
this skirt was blue
very blue, dark blue
not navy, not ultramarine, maybe midnight blue
it had tiers of flounce
it wrapped around, so it had a little give as far as stride and whatnot
and it was floor length
kinda gypsy-ish
and i think i had just read a romance novel the gypsy from cadiz
[wow i found a review, cool] https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tamsin-hamilton/the-gypsy-from-cadiz/#review
and i had always kinda had a thing for gypsies
in a limited child-like way
but
i knew this was the st patrick's day parade
so i was trying to channel some sort of
irish potato peasant energy into the twirling and flapping of the skirt
i thought maybe i was a little irish
