November 21, 2009

What a day today has been! It's probably not a great way to describe Remembrance Day, but I almost feel like its a street carnival. When you walk down the street, its people moving, street vendors selling their wares, music, etc. This is all basically on Steinwehr Avenue. Baltimore Street is full, too, but not quite the way Steinwehr Avenue is.

I had planned to go to the ceremony over at the National Cemetery first thing this morning. But when I got home from work, my cat left me a present: a dead mouse, lying in the middle of my living room floor. Now, some may think this is silly, but I'm deathly afraid of mice....living or dead....and it took me about an hour to get that thing out of my house. Let's just say the removal involved brooms and snow shovels. Anyway, I missed that ceremony. So, later I met my friend Jackie as we got ready for the parade.

I wasn't in much of a party mood. Living next door to a business that has "shows" in their courtyard pretty much left me sleep deprived. On Friday I went to bed at 2:30 pm....the drumming started at 5pm....and I had to be at work at 11pm. When I left for work, the drumming was still going strong. Three hours of sleep makes me crabby. So, after lack of sleep and the mouse incident, I really wasn't in the mood for a party atmosphere. But there is something really infectious about the atmosphere on the street. And I felt my mood changing....not a lot....but I was a little more festive.

Jackie and I walked around the town. We met up with a friend of hers and hit the National Cemetery. What a site the cemetery was! Flags, both national and state, were flying over the graves of each and every grave of our soldier heroes. There is just something about seeing thousands of flags flapping in the wind over the graves of these brave men. One thing I noticed was, throughout the cemetery, there were pictures of the men lying in the graves below. I personally saw about 6 pictures of the men who were resting eternally in our cemetery. I have no idea how many more there might have been. That really made me stop and think. I keep harping on this idea, but so often people here names but don't realize that these were real men. Looking at these pictures and seeing their names really makes one stop and think about who these men were and what their lives were all about. There were quite a few people milling around the cemetery, but you didn't even notice them....what you did notice was that the majority of them were wearing period clothes. Us '09ers were clearly the minority.

From there, we moved on to the Wax Museum....A.K.A. the American Civil War Museum. The front lawn was like a circus....a Civil War circus. Generals from both sides were wandering around talking to folks, pictures were being taken, demonstrations were happening, food was being sold. I got a chuckle when I saw someone take a picture of J.E.B. Stuart and George Armstrong Custer.

Walking down Steinwehr Avenue towards Baltimore Street was tricky. Folks had their chairs on the sidewalk for the parade, thousands of people were trying to get to their next destination, and everyone wanted to be on the same exact sidewalk. A couple of times we had to walk in the street or on the grass just to keep moving. I had a thought (I know....strange thing for me) but I just wondered why on this ONE DAY, they don't just close off Steinwehr Avenue to traffic and just let the pedestrians have a go at it???? Traffic really doesn't move that well on the street any way and there are lots of ways around Steinwehr. It seems that it would just make sense. But what do I know????

While walking down Steinwehr we ran into friends. The Sutlers had their wares. There was food a plenty. Lots to drink. There was a mercantile set up. Authors were autographing their books. Restaurants had tables outside. It really was a street carnival. I loved it.

Then we got to our chairs and sat waiting for the parade. Again, we ran into friends. The sun had been out earlier and it was getting warm....but by the time we sat down, the clouds had covered the sun and it was time for me to pull out my gloves....strange, because earlier I was ready to take off my coat.

The parade was, as always, very exciting. First the Union regiments came marching past. Some were playing music, some were on horseback, some had artillery, some in carriages, but all in Union clothes. We saw zouaves, sharpshooters, cavalry, and infantry. We saw generals galore. And row after row after row of Union soldiers. Then the Confederates came through. Again, it was the same things as the Union but in different colors. The bands were playing: Battle Cry of Freedom, Dixie, whatever song they happened to be playing. This year I only saw 2 General Lee's....disappointing considering a couple of years ago I saw FOUR. Generals Longstreet, Jackson, and Stuart abound. The parade lasted about an hour and I enjoyed every moment of it!

After the parade I went home. Had to get some sleep because I needed to be at work at 11pm....and considering the little bit of sleep I had the day before, it was very much needed. So...I never got to see the luminaries. That's a shame but I'm sure it was awesome...like always.

This wasn't a typical day for me on Remembrance Day. Usually I do much more...but considering the day I had, I needed a scaled-back day. I don't regret a moment of anything I did or didn't do and look forward to next year!