The Parade of the Season

"Don’t tell me not to live, just sit and putter. Life’s candy and the sun’s a ball of butter. Don’t bring around a cloud to rain on my parade."?(Lyrics by Bob Merrill from “Funny Girl”)

My mom loved Thanksgiving so much. Not the food. Not even just being with her family. She loved the theater and the parade.

Years ago she started a tradition of going to a matinee on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and going to the Macy’s Day Parade on the big day. She always had a front-row seat – not at home, but at the actual parade, thanks to my sister-in-law whose stepfather worked for Macy’s for over 50 years. One memorable year my kids even got to be in the parade marching and riding a float right in front of my mom.

This year was the first year we traveled to New York to celebrate Thanksgiving since my Mom passed away in December 2020. We paid homage to her memory at the Wednesday matinee of “Funny Girl” with Leah Michelle (yes, she’s amazing).?

And then out of the blue, a friend Thelar Pekar offered the opportunity to get tickets to the Macy’s Day Parade to support the Hoboken Historical Museum. I snagged those tickets to send my daughter and her boyfriend to sit where my Mom sat and watch the parade pass by.?

I’m so grateful to Thelar for offering up those tickets – which brought back so many memories and lots of laughs and tears. Her new?TED Talk?was just released and it’s all about storytelling and the power of paradox.?

It’s brilliant and a perfect way to sum up how I feel at Thanksgiving – paradoxical: grateful to be with those I love, yet missing for those who weren’t present; hungry to eat all that was put before me, yet trying to make choices that I wouldn’t regret; and wanting to spend more time with my kids, yet knowing that they have to be independent and go their own way.?

As we enter the holiday season – which is full of contradictions this year with so much challenge in the world – I know I need to take the time to be grateful, and cherish the memories of those who aren’t here, all while making new memories with those I love.?

I hope you’ll do the same and enjoy all that the parade of the season will offer this year.

This month the OUTLAW ONE is all about JWI. This first week of December I’ll be celebrating the 125th Gala of this amazing organization which I proudly sit on the board of - our work is focused on ending domestic and sexual violence against women, building financial literacy, and growing women’s leadership. I hope you’ll take the time to learn more about it here and in my Outlaw Leadership Column this month.

I look forward to the opportunity to work with you or your organization to grow your EDGE: Explore, Dream, Grow & Excite? and to stay connected through this newsletter and the content we select each month from the Outlaw Leadership? column and the Suburban Outlaw? column as first published by Gannett.?

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