Phillies Parade

So I've never been a huge baseball fan, having only really begun to actually sit down and watch it from time to time and go to games here and there since I married an avid baseball player, watcher, & follower. However, I have always been a Philadelphia fan and I did grow up as a huge Flyers fan as well as kept up with the Eagles. I won't get into my crazy fandom history but I've been a Jersey girl all my life and no matter what, will always feel a special bond with the city of Philadelphia.

It's really a great city for so many reasons. Philly is known for some of the best food, sharing it's name with soft pretzels, and cheesesteaks, being home to Tastycake and some of the best restaurants you'll ever eat at. My favorite part about going to South Street when I was in school to get design supplies at Pearl was the fact that it was located directly across from Jim's; my personal favorite cheesesteak place. Philadelphia is also known as a sports town with fans who bleed Eagle's green, passionately hold onto grudges against players who have scorned them, and have the ever-present mantra of "maybe next year".

Throughout the history of sports there have been teams who have dry spells, the Red Sox only broke the curse of the Bambino five seasons ago, the Cubs are still waiting for their curse to be broken, and I could name more then a few teams that, for the sake of the franchise, had better hope there are blue skies ahead. But throughout my lifetime the city of Philadelphia has been practically winless. A quarter of a century and not a single trophy, parade, or team to boast about is a long time for a city with the passionate fans, and longevity that Philadelphia's teams have. We have four teams who have called Philly home for at least 40 years. Teams which have always been at least decent, they give you hope, they have bright shining moments of "almost" for fans to cling to, but always seem to fall just short.

Then the Phillies in the last three innings of a game which began two days earlier ended on the perfect note of a perfect season for closer Brad Lidge as he struck out Eric Hinske to clinch the world series and Philadelphia, with a collective cry that was equal parts joy and surprise, was no longer a city of perpetual losers. I went to the parade here because it was three blocks from my office and I just didn't want to be so close and miss it, so around 12pm, half the office set off to watch. Unfortunately, had we really wanted to be there and see everything, we would have had to be there first thing in the morning. As I arrived to work at 8:30 there were people in the streets with Phillies gear on walking around, yelling, horns honking and becoming the makings of a ridiculous crowd. By the time my coworkers and I arrived we were probably at least 60 people deep and couldn't see a thing. Every time someone started cheering it started a wave of people following suit so I would raise my camera over my head and just start taking pictures. I'll post a couple that I took, but it's really not much to look at. But I was determined to be there and I'm glad I can at least say I was a little part of my favorite city's history.

People gathered in an open parking garage close to where we stood.

This was my view for the start of the parade thanks to the guy in front of me who let his kids take turns being on his shoulders. Not his fault really, but still...

That's the Phanatic through the trees, you see him, right?

I told you so.

Yay Confetti!

That's probably someone important, I just can't see.

Cool Phillies flag waved by someone passing by.

People were climbing anything they though would give them a better view.

Just in case you're interested, I found the Philadelphia team's dates established and the last year they won a championship. Just because I was curious.

Flyers est. in '67 haven't won since back-to-back cups in '74 & '75
76ers est. in '39, haven't won since '83
Eagles est. in '33, haven't won since '60 (!)
Phillies est. in 1889, haven't won since '80...until now!

Reunion

Back in August I had my 10 year high school reunion which I must admit I was a little wary about going to at first. I didn't really have a good reason not to go, I haven't moved very far away and it wasn't like there was anyone I was dreading to see or I had changed for the worse. So after being talked into it by Andria who insisted I'd regret it if I didn't, I found the perfect dress, awesome shoes, and couldn't think of any reason not to go.



But that was back in August, and I've been meaning to post this picture for a while now. I'm really good at making excuses as to why I haven't, one of which being that I was trying to find a picture that would be a good representation of me from high school, while not being totally embarrassing. I was unsuccessful so picture this: Kim, 15ibs heavier with slightly chubby cheeks wearing baggy jeans and an oversize flannel shirt, long straight hair and rocking bangs.

I have to say, it was a good day. I had a soccer game in the morning and Chris and I asked our friends Andria and Jon if we could hang with them the rest of the day instead of going home just to meet up with them later since we were planning on carpooling. So Andria and I made hair and nail appointments and spent the day being pampered and getting ready to look fabulous while Chris and Jon spent the afternoon playing video games. The reunion itself was fairly uneventful and with the exception of an awful senior video put together for graduation with everyone looking 10 years younger and dorkier (ok, maybe just me) and it reminded people of who wasn't there. It was nice to see people and learn who was married, had kids, living somewhere else, etc. I'll probably go back in another 10 years too, as long as I have no reason not to.