On July 24th,1847, the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley and made it home. I am lucky enough to be a descendant of those courageous and faithful pioneers. They made the long 1300 mile plus trek by handcarts and wagons, from Illinois to Utah. Brigham Young's famous words... "this is the right place" affirms my own sentiments. This is home. I love it here. It is the right place!
It's also my dad's birthday. He has passed away, but we continue to celebrate and remember his life with the long standing tradition of lighting sparklers atop a cake.
I'll be watching the Days of 47 Parade. The days of watching it in person are behind me. I'll be sitting in my big, soft comfy armchair in my air conditioned house, in the theater room if I please! The temperature today will be slightly over 100 degrees. Hot! It is one of the largest parades in the nation. There are no advertisements. Just good old fashioned floats, marching bands, horses and covered wagons. All centered around a pioneer theme. I look forward to watching it every year, seeing all the old photos of parades past, and listening to stories of the early pioneers.
I'll have a BBQ with a couple of my children and their youngsters. We look forward to Green River watermelon and corn on the cob this time of year. Yummmm.
I'll play with the grandkids, watch them run around the yard twirling sparklers, and relish in the thought of how lucky I am to be their grandmother.
I'll reflect on all the good things I have in my life and call it a day. And it will be a very good day!
I can't think of anything I would rather do today. But if I could, I would wish my dad here on his birthday so I could listen to his wild and adventurous stories and jokes, laugh a bunch, and tell him how much I love and miss him.
Happy Birthday Dad!
Happy Pioneer Day!
Writing prompt #1: 9 things you'd rather be doing today.
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Hi Carol,
ReplyDeleteI'm always happy to "see" you when you write a post!
Today's post made me choke up. What a woNDerFuL tradition to keep on celebrating your Dad. He's still alive, after all, we just can't see him. I take great comfort in Paul's words, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord."
Wish I could see that parade. I love a parade with lots of marching bands. Strange I've never heard of it as it is so large.
If you have time, come visit our blog. For once I did a post with lots of pictures!
xxoo, m & jb
What a lovely tribute to your Dad and family. Sounds like a great day! I hope that your memories are as sweet as the cake!
ReplyDeleteyes it would be nice to see him once more. Now I'm so lucky to have a little one to share the tradition with. His parents put sparklers on his cake.
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