A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Parade

A perfect Sunday afternoon . . . that's what we worked hard to orchestrate, and we were well on our way there.

We began our day with a delightful family breakfast before heading off to a new church just around the corner. This church proved to be just what we have been looking for, a traditional service, a wonderful sermon, good childcare and Sunday school for the boys, and it gave us that overall feeling of comfort and peace. I think we may have found our new church home. We are on a roll here!

Following the service, we enjoyed lunch out at our favorite pizza place, Pizza Express, and made it home with 3 well-fed, drowsy boys precisely at half past one, which just happens to be NAPTIME!

As we were walking down the stairs after tucking our little cherubs in for a long afternoon nap, we heard the pitter-patter of light London rain on our windows. What could be more perfect? There is no one that enjoys a rainy day nap more than me, and I could not get under the blanket fast enough!

Right as I was drifting off into naptime bliss, G silenced little G who was engrossed in a video game. I opened just one of my eyes and tried to give G the look. This is the look that I would give to those children in my classroom years ago when they would misbehave. G was misbehaving and it was affecting my sweet slumber!

Unfortunately, the look doesn't work as well with grown men as it did with 7 year olds. G paid no attention to the perfectly planned Sunday afternoon conditions and again interrupted the peacefulness by announcing the fact that he heard a parade. A parade! Little G was on his feet at this point, and my other eye was now open. We all heard the drums by now and it sounded as if it were right around the corner. G threw open the door and sure enough, there was a parade processing right at the end of our street. Little G ran to the end of the street and G ran after him. What luck to just happen upon a parade literally right on your doorstep!

I watched the boys get to the end of the street, and then things seemed to take a turn. Smiles faded, arms folded, and the boys turned around with their heads hung low. It was then that I noticed people in the parade carrying large signs, it was then that I heard the chanting, it was then that I realized that this was not a parade, it was a protest!

And just in case you're wondering, the protest was over the inclusion of Turkey into the European Union.