I don't even know where to start about this year's Pride Parade. First of all, WAY better when you go with people you actually like. The entire atmosphere changed for me, just from not having that toxic group surrounding me. Even just taking the earliest train felt better, despite the having to wake up at 5AM. 5AM hasn't existed to me in a long time.
The train ride started off the day off on an awesome foot, with jokes, laughter, and mint chocolate chip coffee despite the very early time. The first stop after getting off the train was the city Target, which is awesome. The CARTS have their own escalator, and get this, the people are friendly. Maybe it was because they were just opening, but all the employees were awesome. And then watching my sister and another person in my group start dancing as we waited for people to check out, those are the types of moments that I remember.
From there, we found our way to the L-station where we proceeded to avoid the Red Line. It was so funny, seeing the red train on the other side of track so full you couldn't fit anymore people onboard, whereas ours had more than enough seats. (protip if you ever go to Chicago Pride Parade, Brown goes to the same place as Red and no one rides it). There was a couple that switched between San Francisco and Chicago pride parade every year and we had an awesome time talking to them about it.
Then, we got to the actual parade route and actually got front row this year. We were there about 2 hours early, but we settled in right next to this adorable couple. And across the way, there was another that I just loved to watch. One was SO happy and excited, and they obviously loved each other a lot. It didn't matter how different they looked, all that mattered is they were there together. And it's nice to see that. Love is love, and I realized that more today than I ever have and I honestly wish nothing but an amazing life for the both of them.
Before the parade, there was a guy that came by that looked like Jack Sparrow if he was gay and 20 years younger. Written right across his chest was "Free hugs!" One of the guys in our group liked that idea and took his shirt off and wrote the same thing. I wish I would've gotten some of that on camera. It was one of the funniest, most endearing things to watch. Men, women, they all hugged him as they walked by. Some people even came back for another one.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves on the Parade. I don't know if I could even talk about the Parade itself, just because of how much goes on in it. I just know that standing there in the sun, letting myself dance to the music, cheering made me feel more alive that I have in so long. We even made friends with the people standing next to us, since other people tried to take our spots on a few occasions. We told them to get even closer so people wouldn't. And one of the girls, just wow. There was a reason people from the parade were stopping and giving her so much free stuff. She was gorgeous, and amazingly nice.
There are a couple points that stick out. One, I wish I could find the Tumblr picture of. Last year, when I was looking up pictures for that parade I came across one I loved. This guy was dressed as Jesus and he planted himself next to the protesters that come out every year with a sign that said "I'm not with them!" I didn't even hesitate when I saw the same guy waling in the parade. I shouted "YEAH JESUS!!" and he turned and looked right at me. He smiled and did a blessing sign. I have no pictures, but that is one of those mental pictures that will always stay with me. Let's take the religion out of this, Jesus himself sounded like a pretty awesome person. "Love your neighbor as yourself." There is a part of me that thinks he would be happy to see all the love at that parade.
The others that stick out are all of people that made eye contact while going by. Some would point and shout something like "I love you!" to our group as we cheered and danced. And the high fives, all the high fives.
The perfect end to the day was the train ride home. The conductor was hilarious. Some of them won't talk to you or seem to like their job very much, but not him. One of us dared someone to start dancing in the aisle and rather than come in and tell him to stop, the conductor just pointed and told people from the other car to watch.
There is something about being back on those familiar streets. I love Chicago, truly. I couldn't have picked a better city to grow up so near. I missed it so much through the winter and am so happy to know I'm going back in just 2 weeks for the Taste.
These are the types of days I want more in my life. The change I'm wanting in my life, it starts today. All the memories of that day will be the fuel that I need. I can sit back and let my life pass me by, but I don't want to do that. I want to enjoy life as much as I did today as often as I can.
TONS of pictures to follow and this isn't even all I took. Tried to delete some of the ones that were almost the same.
( And we'll all float on anyway. )![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
