Parades are Supposed to be Fun

A few weeks back I was leaving my besties house to head to a Blackhawks game at the United Center that I was working. Here I am driving down a normally busy street with no cars in sight. it was a Sunday evening and figured maybe those crazy city people were recovering from their city weekend life styles - no biggie.

I kept driving and then I heard sirens coming from the opposite direction, some fire trucks and police cars. This made me think that perhaps there was a crazy accident that happened behind me, this would make sense since I was the only car on the road. Then I started thinking what if I caused an accident? Do I turn around? Should I go back?

As I have all these questions running through my mind, I approached the top of a hill and started to head downward and that's when I saw it. There were hundreds of people lining the street in just a few hundred yards in front of me, marching at me, chanting at me in words I didn't recognize. Flags were waiving and the megaphones were powerful. It was a parade, but not just any parade. The Polish American Police Association was helping to host a parade in honor of the President of Poland who was killed in the plane crash on April 10, 2010.

A police officer on a bike rode up to me and asked me how I got to this road. My response was simple and confused.... "I drove"

The officer took a long pause and said never mind that, lets figure out how to get you out of there. He directed me to stay on the right side of the road as he directed me westbound. Now, I know that phones are illegal in Chicago while driving, but as I was getting directed out of the parade line, I had to snap a quick shot because who was going to believe that I got stuck in a Polish Parade? Come on now. And that's where this little gem comes in

Parades are supposed to be fun, but not when you get trapped in one.