Last Sunday 2008
The Lump (our 11-1/2-year-old spawn) reads during Jazz Fest. I have found this humiliating and/or embarrassing over the years, and make pains to point out her bobbing or tapping foot. This year, though, people were quite charmed. One man talked to me at length about her liking to read, about that keeping her “mind off all that mess” and away from too much TV. He was also charmed at how I “took care of her”–adjusting the umbrella and her circle of shade, spraying cold water on her legs to cool her off, checking in with her every song or break or so. She’s my child. That’s what I’m supposed to do. It’s just not that common to see. One day, she will be grown and gone. And I want her to miss the loving care she got from us.
Every child, especially the toddlers, reminded me of my Lump back in the day, the days of “Jazz Fest braids,” red shorts, no shirt, one quick diaper change, lots of mango freeze, jama jama, snowballs, lemonade and herbal tea and a 3-wheeled stroller that parted the crowds.
But I have gotten old. It took 3 days to get my Jazz Fest legs. And now, I am done for a week even though Monday is tomorrow and the race begins.
Happy Fucking Jazz Fest, y’all. See you next year.
G Bitch (still down!)
NOLA
May 5th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
When I was a kid, my parents always had a lot more fun at Jazzfest than I did. Now that I’m about the age my father was when I used to sit around bored out of my wits while my folks enjoyed themselves (or made fools of themselves in my estimation) I now find I have more fun… (obligatory complaints about the unconscionable admission price aside). The only conclusion I can draw from this is that Jazzfest is kind of an old man’s game…. and I am an old man.
May 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Yes you are, youngster!
May 5th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Can we bronze this post and its comments, please? ‘Cause that’s the TRUTH, dammit. All of it.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:49 am
I actually loved Jazz Fest as a kid but it was a different beast–smaller crowds, coolers, free-range children you could hang, play, and eat with. It was like the old Mardi Gras days when Canal was a lot of families with coolers, kids, chairs and and plenty of Chex drinks and fried chicken wings. You just can’t set a tween loose these days.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
this post got to me.
thank you, it was wonderful.
termite.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:46 am
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