A labor of love

For over 20 years now, Murph’s been getting up at daybreak and driving to Main Street to set up front row seats for our town’s annual Labor Day Parade. This year would be different.

You see for 51 years, Newtown has had the most celebratory Labor Day Parade in the state of Connecticut – this year complete with about 250 groups – everyone from politicians to bagpipers – all marching along a 2 hour route. No small feat. But for our community, this has not been a year to celebrate. It’s been a year to grieve and mourn the tragedy at our Sandy Hook Elementary School.

We figured this year’s parade would result in a mixed bag of emotions, and that put Murph and I sitting on the fence of indecision as to go or not to go. It wasn’t until our teenage son announced the night before – that he was going no matter what and needed a ride to the parade – that it would all be settled, we would all go.

The next morning,we set up our chairs wherever we found room, and watched our Newtown and Connecticut communities march with so much pride, strength, and joy down Main Street, past our famous flagpole. I never did sit down in my chair. The entire 2 hours I stood quietly taking it all in and thinking how lucky I was to be part of such an amazing community.

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa

Love, Nora