Lighting up the Night

I love where I live. I love my home town. Most people know one another, if not directly then at least by association. Most are friendly, and courteous…. there is still a lot of “yes, ma’am, no ma’am” answers, there are waves when you pass by on the road, doors will often be held, a “how are you doing?” or a hug around the neck is often accompanied with a greeting, it’s a sweet place and I love it. One thing that makes it so great is the way we can and will always come together when there is a need.
And there is a need.
There is a little boy in our area that is having a very difficult time. He has cancer. He has had several surgeries, and he’s still fighting a very hard battle.

Someone posted on Facebook about throwing a parade for him. His name is Emerson.

Emerson loves Disney and their “light up the night” parades. So in just a few short days, the word spread and the town prepared.

Some, like me, were not able to get a float prepped, so my family and I and hundreds of others showed up to support this brave little guy and his parents.

We left our home 40 minutes before the parade was supposed to kick off, feeling that surely we would be able to secure a good spot from which to watch the parade…. When we got to the stretch of road that it was supposed to go on, there were people as far as the eye could see. It seemed the whole town had shown up in one way or another.
My mouth dropped at the sight.
Families.
Kids.
Teens.
I was amazed.

The parade was Disney themed, and most everything had lights!

Floats, cars, firetrucks, dump trucks, jeeps, and more going down our #11 for 45 minutes showing their support! The crowd was asked to wear purple… so we tried our best, even sharing shirts that didn’t necessarily fit, just so we had on purple, per the towns request.

I was moved to tears through the parade. It was absolutely precious.

We were able to take Ace with us and he LOVED it! He loved the lights and the floats and especially the suckers they were throwing from the floats. 😉

Although… he wasn’t too sure about this guy. He put his little arms behind his back and started easing back when this minion walked up to greet him. It was so funny!