M1. St. Patrick's Day is on it's way!

For the longest time my family didn’t do anything big to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. In fact, we did nothing at all. However, for the first time about four years ago a tradition started without my family even realizing it. My dad’s childhood best friend had been a part of my life since I can remember. Therefore, my siblings and I consider him as an uncle. My uncle lives in Jamestown which is quite the drive so we truly don’t see them that much. He decided to ask my dad if we would like to come up for St. Patrick’s Day and go with them to see a parade they put on. We decided to go for the heck of it seeing how we always have nothing going on to celebrate that day. What we do is we park about a block away because nobody can park down the entire strip the parade takes place on. Then, we walk down the road and through a plaza over to the main road that the parade takes place on. We always stand on the same side every time right by a bridge they have. Watching the parade they have clowns, fire trucks, little kids, elderly, dogs, and so much more that are shown on the different floats. Everybody that comes gets into the entire celebration by dressing from head to toe in green. This celebration everybody shows there goofy side with the funny hats, and outfits. Of course the kids love when candy is thrown out to everybody on the side, even adults of all ages get excited and still run for candy! The excitement shown on all types of age’s faces was enough to top off the importance of St. Patrick’s Day. The environment really made me feel at home and just gives off an all-around good feeling. The best part that everybody loves takes place after the parade ends. Everybody rushes to both sides of the bridge to look down into the water. Right when the parade ends they die the water green. I know many may see it as being silly, but when you’re in the moment in that atmosphere, it’s exciting even if you’ve seen it every year. After watching the water turn to green, we head back to our vehicles to drive back to my Uncle’s house. There, he has a family and friend celebration where he has shamrocks decorated all over the place with a bunch of variety of food. Of course they have food that is also colored green to top off the celebration. Ever since that first experience, my family has decided to traditionally go every year. I always look forward to celebrating it because nothing tops a day with once that matter most, especially when you rarely see them!