It Is Such a Wonderful Place to Stay

Technically it's New Chapter Day but I'm way to lazy to plug in my external hard drive so... suck it.

Instead I'll tell you about Children's Day & why I will probably be MIA until Sunday.

I am lucky enough to have grown up in Mount Tabor, New Jersey. I have yet to leave it & dread the day that I do. Here in Tabor, things have changed but basics stay the same. I still wave to everyone I pass or that passes me. If we're both walking we actually say "hi, how are you?"

It was a neighborhood where you actually walked out your front door, walked up the block & knocked on a friends door to see if they could come out and play. A neighborhood where the 5 o'clock whistle meant you needed to check in at home, for dinner or a break. Then you could go back out until the sun went down.

And then, if you were lucky enough to get a big enough group together, you would play man hunt throughout the whole neighborhood.

Everyone knew your parents, you & your pets.

Things changed.

I see faces that I don't know more often than I know now. And I see young mom's walking their babies and think "f-u!" cause that's supposed to be my life, ya know?

Who knows where I'll end up, it most likely will not be Mount Tabor, New Jersey. But if it can be, if the stars aline that way, I will be very happy.

But if not, every first weekend in August, I'll be trecking back here. I'll be arriving with my old tshirts to celebrate Children's Day.

It's a festival that's been going on for almost 150 years and it too has changed. It started as a small May Flower Parade and has turned into an entire weekend of events. Here is the basic schedule.

Friday: Coronation, CD Show, Dance & house decorations.

Saturday: Sporting events, parade, midway, parade, concert & good times with great friends.

Sunday: Church service & lazy pants.

It may not sound like much to you, but it means the world to me. It's a weekend where everyone gets to act like a kid again (and for some of us adults that means consuming more than our fair share of beerrrrrs - if you know what I mean :-P)

Mostly I love it because it's a time for me to remember, to remember what it's like to be 6 and so excited for the parade candy. To wait with baited breath with my friends, cheering when the fire whistle blew. I'm 10 and I'm working my butt off on a float for the majority of July. I'm 14 again & I'm having one of the best summers of my life on the Royal Court with my best friends.

Children's Day is a part of me and I wouldn't change that for the world. Even if that makes me white trash with a solo cup...