IN DEMAND

We moved to the little town of Blue Mound (pop. about 1,200) last October. I grew up small town, but spent the last fifteen years in the "big" city (haha) of Decatur. Life has a funny way of coming full circle - - I now feel very content raising my kids small town. We like knowing that there are other people who watch out for you and your family and have a genuine concern for helping your kids turn out to be good people...you know, that whole "it takes a village thing."

I can say without doubt that I have officially become Mounder. The proof? My schedule for the three days of our small town celebration. The Blue Mound Fall Festival is held the second weekend in August each year. This year, I have shifts selling 50/50 tickets, working at the Bingo game, selling cake and ice cream at our church's stand, assisting with the chicken dinner, and working on our church's float for the parade. I will probably end up walking with or riding on our float for the parade as well (you gotta love small town parades....every year, everyone takes turns either watching it or being in it.)

And they say that people move to small towns to "get away from it all."

the floating fiesta

Yesterday, we went to a friend's house for lunch after church. It was nice to have the opportunity to come together, but oh, if only our reason for gathering had been that simple. Like the Blues Brothers, we were on a mission from God. Our purpose was not to save an orphanage from foreclosure, as was Jake and Elwood's, but rather to build the church float for the upcoming parade for the Blue Mound Fall Festival.

The theme for this year's Fall Festival is "Festival Fiesta." Trying to find a way to tie the Mexican culture with our church was not an easy task. We tried our best to someway tie God to a Mexican party associated with big, round hats and margaritas, but kept coming up blank. We thought it more than somewhat sacrilege to offer up a float depicting Jesus with a sombrero, holding maracas and a bottle of tequila. We finally settled on "Sunday morning is no time for siesta," meaning that you should be in church, rather than sleeping in. I thought this slogan was pretty good, until we tried it on a few people and they said, "what's a siesta?" I think I mistakenly thought there were a few words that, though foreign, had acclimated their way into the English language - - for example, what about: croissant, voilà, bonjour, or faux pas? Though all French in origin, most English speakers are easily able to understand the meaning in those words.

Hopefully there will be someone standing by who knows the Spanish word for "nap" when a parade watcher looks at our float and questions, "what's a siesta?" Regardless, as long as there is candy thrown, I don't think anyone will really care.