The Magical Christmas Parade©

Last Saturday I got to chauffeur my granddaughter, Abby, in the Perry Christmas parade. It was magical….let me tell you why.

First of all, how often does an old guy like me get to chauffeur a beauty queen? Not very often; maybe once in a lifetime?! And when the beauty queen is your granddaughter, Crowned “Miss Perry High”, it’s that much more special. I got to spend several hours of quality time with this remarkable young lady who is not only beautiful on the outside but just as much on the inside too. As she’s awaiting her final acceptance letters from some of the south’s finest universities she’s at a real crossroads in where life will take her and she asked me to pray for her several months ago as she makes this decision. It was a Magical time in a proud grandfather’s life!

Then, secondly I got to drive her in my 23 year old C5 Corvette that still looks showroom fresh (See pictures of the car and the Queen on the Facebook edition of this column). I still get lots of compliments every time I take it out. But this time was a special encore since it was the last time I will get to drive it. It will be delivered to its proud new owner later today as I write this column on Sunday afternoon. We even had to get the buyer to agree to postpone delivery so I could drive it one last time in The Magical Christmas Parade. The sale is part of our downsizing plan as I’ve written about several times in this column. I’ve enjoyed it for six wonderful years and, as Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, there is a time for everything, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”

Another thing that made it magical was my face time call to my son, Jess, in Germany as we were in the early part of the parade (Don’t tell the State Patrol!) I called for several reasons. First to tell him how much we miss him and try to include him in the festivities , even if he is several thousand miles away; but still very close in our hearts. And, I wanted to remind him of the last time we were in a Christmas parade together. It was in Brantford, Ontario, Canada in December of 1996 when he helped me drive our Blue Bird school bus through downtown Brantford. He was only four years old then but he vividly remembers standing between my legs and steering that big yellow bus all decorated with lights along the parade route. A magical moment from 27 years ago!

And, of course, the parade route was right through downtown Perry with all the streets and shops decorated for Christmas like a mini Helen, GA or Gatlinburg, TN. Charming, with a great crowd filled with kids of all ages in awe of the fire trucks, mini cars and of course, the beauty queens! But as I was driving through the downtown I was reminded that it didn’t always look that way. When we first moved to Perry in 1971 it was very different than it is today. The Chrysler dealership was right in the heart of the downtown shopping area, the Ford Dealership had recently moved from downtown and the Chevrolet dealership was in the building which is now The Perry Players Theater. And that reminds me to remind you that the musical version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is still playing through Dec. 16th. Don’t miss it!

The “City Fathers” are to be commended for the excellent job they’ve done in renovating downtown Perry into the magical little town it is today. If you haven’t visited recently you should, especially during this Christmas season while it’s all decked out. The restaurant and shop owners will really appreciate it!

Yes, for me it was a Magical Christmas Parade.

I hope you’ll let the Magic of the Christmas story sink in this year as you read Dr. Luke’s account in chapter two of the gospel he wrote.

Thanks for reading All About Seniors…..see you next week!

Bill Milby is a Director of Visiting Angels® of Central Georgia, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at https://www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA

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