Traditions are the result of performing the same activity at the same time of year with the same or close to the same people. Traditions are basically habits imbued with a sense of family or friendship and a certain level of sentimentality. They are often warmly anticipated, though not always. Sometimes traditions are upheld through a sense of obligation.
As a kid, it was tradition for our family to go to my grandparents house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. All the families on my mother's side of the tree would gather there as well with the exception of my Aunt Barbara who lived in Ohio.
So on those two holidays, the house would be stuffed with people eating, exchanging gifts, watching football on the television. Memorable times.
Every August, my parents used to rent a cabin on Highland Lake and we spent two weeks there before returning to the school year. Those were very fine weeks of swimming, fishing, archery, exploring dirt roads on a minibike, grilling, boating and all the typical things done at camp. Memorable times as well.
Those traditions are done now, of course.
As parents, my wife and I have established some traditions with our sons as well. We have carried on the tradition of spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with my parents and sisters and their families. Our summer vacation became a tradition when we would drive 1000 miles to North Carolina to spend a couple weeks with my wife's parents. Sometimes there were family reunions attended there. After her parents passed on, we still made the trip for a few years to visit with her uncle and aunt who lived in the same area. But they are in Florida now and my sons are adults, so that tradition has passed on as well.
See, the thing about traditions is some of them just end. Some kind of fade away. You will miss some and not others. Some bring fond memories and others are viewed as just something that happened.
This Memorial Day, our tradition of getting together and watching the parade in my parents' hometown may be done. My parents have gotten to the age where it is difficult for them to get out. They aren't in bad health, just old.
My sons won't be there. It used to be great fun to take them to the parade when they were children. Their cousins would be there and the people marching by, the old cars, the fire trucks, enthralled them. There were balloons, candy thrown to the kids on the sidewalk, a lot of mayhem and poorly played (but enthusiastic) music by the middle schools' marching bands.
And now, I think I can safely say that this is one tradition that has grown old. It's time to let it lapse. The small town parade in a pretty good sized city is not the spectacle it used to be when I was much much younger.
Traditions come, traditions go. And I'll gladly say goodbye to this one.
The following is a video I made of the parade in 2011.
