New Normal: Making New Memories

   Well, here it is August. Can you believe it? Time does fly whether you are having fun or not. So, best to have fun or at least make some. We will always have the Corona virus to remember, but will we remember what our teachers, our shop keepers, our librarians and so many of our community members have done to maintain some sort of normalcy? I live in a very special little town. Folks here weren’t going to let the Class of 2020 think they were forgotten. Our volunteer fire department and the police had a very loud parade and invited the seniors to join them. It was not like any other graduation, but I’ll bet those kids won’t forget it. On the fourth of July, Florence has held a very popular Wet or Dry parade. The dry part consisted of bands, floats, and cowboys on horses (and cows).. Every fire truck and water truck in the county would drive down Main Street, dowsing the huge crowd of kids and parents gathered on the sidewalk. There was a virtual Wall of Water as the crowd fired back with every water weapon one could imagine… Imagine if you were a kid not having this. Again, our fabulous fire fighters, police, mayor and a few other civic minded folks took matters in hand. They assembled a small group of water wielding trucks, a couple of old cars, and a pickup pulling a mammoth horse trailer and drove through the neighborhoods spraying down all the water armed assassins they could find right in front of their own homes. I doubt if the kids will forget this fourth of July. (I’m not sure the horse trailer was an intended part of the parade, but if you think about it…how many horses get to ride in a parade?) So are you getting the picture?

   Florence calls itself the Antique Capital of Colorado and for good reason. There are over twenty antique shops. And what are antiques if not memory prompts?

   “Oh, look, my grandma had one of these.” And “I bet I could make muffins like my Mom’s if I had this muffin tin.”

   What better way to make new memories than search out some of the old ones. Our parents, grandparents and great grandparents survived much worse than we have. They invented new machines, gadgets, and recipes to help them cope. You can get a really good idea of what life was like by visiting our antique stores and our great Pioneer Museum. A day trip to Florence is a great way to find old memories and make new ones.