From someone else’s vantage point <3

On Saturday, the little village we live in had their annual summer celebration. 

I don’t know how many years this has been a thing, but I know when Rachel and Zach were first “going out” his parents drove all the way across town to pick her up and come back up to the north for it one Saturday night.

That was long enough ago that they now have a son who is the same age as they were. 

One of the events is the Saturday morning parade.

Russ and I decided to walk around the circle up to the route. We were happy to find the bench at the corner was empty and we sat down to wait. 

A fellow Russ knew came up to say hi so we both stood and when I went to sit down there was a lady sitting at the end. 

She smiled and asked with a heavy accent if this was okay and was this public seating. 

I said of course is she didn’t mind us sharing. 

A big smile and more attempts to speak English assured me she was happy to sit with us. 

I asked her what language she speaks and she said Spanish. She was visiting from Spain with a family we are acquainted with; attending their daughter’s wedding. 

We made small talk about the wedding and how she knew them and then the parade started. 

She was so excited. 

We showed her to gather candy and wave and she asked to have her picture taken several times. She joined in everything enthusiastically.

At one point she excitedly told me how she had learned about our parades in school as a child when they studied our “culture”. 

Russ and I were tickled as this is a very small scale parade, but it absolutely exceeded her expectations. She made it way more fun for us with her happiness.

When the final “float” went by and we waved to our friends who were riding on it, she grinned and waved like she knew them as well as we do. 

We told her that was the end of it and said our goodbyes. There were big hugs and more photos as we parted ways.

Sometimes I don’t think we have a lot going on in the way of culture like countries I have visited. This made me realize – when I go somewhere else, their every day is new and fun for me. 

The same is true for us here. 

It was an added bonus to share the festivities with someone who had a different outlook on us. 

I am so thankful she decided to see if we minded sharing the bench <3