Wayback Wednesday: Parade Day

On the list of random facts you may not know about me is that I have (well, had) mad baton-twirling skillz. I never made it to the point of being a majorette in high school or anything, but I took lessons from the time I was four until I was about 12. Over the years I learned regular twirling, as well as little flags (as the photo shows), and, ultimately, fire. Burned all the hair off one of my arms twirling fire, in fact. Eileen took lessons for a while, too, but not – as far as I recall, anyway – as long as I did.

My teacher was the married older sister of a school friend who taught us in her basement. Eventually, she had enough students to form a little group to perform in local parades. We were called the Pink Panthers, with the cute hot-pink skirts shown below. I have a vague recollection of there being some sort of falling out amongst the group that led to the creation of a second group – Pink Panthers, Ltd. (I know, right?) – but I have no real idea what that was all about. What I do know is that we marched in more parades than I can remember, mostly because I blocked them out. Why? It’s simple: Binghamton, New York; St. Patrick’s Day and/or Veteran’s Day; a mile-plus parade route; and short skirts. You cannot imagine the cold…

Clearly, this picture was from a summer parade – Memorial Day or 4th of July, perhaps.

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Do you have photos from your past that you’re willing to share – and a blog to post them on? Play along with Wayback Wednesday by linking back to this post or sharing in the comments so we can snoop into your past, too!