Blog #150: PRIDE

Happy Pride! Today Jolson and I went into the city to celebrate pride and attend the Pride Parade! It was the 50th anniversary of Chicago's Pride Parade, and it was packed.

Colorful people lined the streets, with so many there to celebrate you could barely move around. I saw people with lots of rainbow clothes on, and people with little clothes on at all. There were people yelling and jumping and displaying their excitement for the whole world to see, while others were there celebrating seemingly quietly. I saw people with identities on every part of the gender spectrum, and I saw moms there supporting their kids, acting as a mom to anyone who needed one. There were pastors and drag queens walking together giving me high fives, young kids and elderly folks dancing together in the street, and enough love and support in the air to suffocate you.

This was my first Pride, and honestly, being there made me pretty emo. I actually started crying at some point, which (somewhat conveniently) is when it started raining. My tears were disguised by the rain! But, besides that, the rain wasn't much of a blessing. Almost out of nowhere, a major storm blew in, soaking every person at the parade and knocking over flags and signs. Jols and I thought maybe we'd wait it out, but they shut down the parade and told people to leave.

With so many people everywhere, getting to the train station, and then even getting onto a train, was an absolute mess. Soaking wet rainbow people flooded the entrance, tried climbing over gates, and pushed until they were at the front of the line. It was a mess, but hey, it makes for a good story, right?

At the end of the day, I wouldn't change a thing. I didn't mind getting soaked, and in fact I found it pretty funny. Besides, we still got to watch the parade for almost two hours, so it's not like we missed the whole thing. And it was fun!!! It was fun and exciting and emotional and fulfilling to be at Pride, and I hope everyone else who celebrated had a wonderful P

ride as well.