dinosaurs and duckboats

status check - beyond tired
background ambiance - live rilo kiley - pictures of success

shortly before noon yesterday, orange-vested state police gathered at the corner of storrow and the o'brien highway to block traffic, indicating to the line of ecstatic fans across the four-lane highway to breathlessly flood across to the median. explosions of red, white and blue tickertape temporarily concealed the view, dancing away to reveal the first in a caravan of duckboats, accompanied by "we are the champions" coursing through the loudspeakers. johnny damon appropriately led off, leaning out the front of his boat with a huge grin and victory hand gesture, his hair slightly mussed by two hours' parading and the persistent (yet ignored by all present) drizzle. the fat-lady-costumed woman across the street was singing, the trophy was hoisted and i was in the front row, feet away from my favorites. david ortiz was grinning, pokey smiled at my camera after i bellowed his name. i rationed my first roll of film perfectly, letting the camera rewind as we all took to the street and ran to the river by the museum of science to await the team's second pass, by water this time.

my father grinned as i bought him a yankee hater hat to celebrate this, our official "fool day." my brother got into the festive spirit and wore an smile as wide as anyone else's and i realized that these few fleeting moments of reckless enthusiasm were worth the midnight drive, the brief catnap and the desperate race to the open doors of a train at the beverly depot. even worth standing at our two-plus hour perch directly across the street from the museum's t-rex. the smiles on the faces of everyone present, captured both in my mind and on the fantastic roll of photos, confirmed the hopes i'd had while preparing for the adventure. 3.2 million people were grinning like idiots.

"this is one of those days we're going to want to tell your kids about," my dad said later, as we stood in line outside north station, waiting for the train back to beverly and the drive back to vermont.

he was right.