𝗆𝗒 𝗁𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗍 𝗅𝖺𝗒𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝖾𝖾

2009 boat parade

Three young teenagers stand at 'the plaza down under', a large platform underneath a bridge that connects the mainland and separate piece of land off the coast of the state. Madison, a sixteen year old straight A student who is obsessed with crystals. Zakkary, a fifteen year old cat dad who is the nicest person you'll ever meet. Daniel, a fourteen year old basketball player who doesn't take anything too seriously. The three of them have been here before, they used to come here every year the week before Christmas. They haven't stepped foot down here in twelve years, and it brings a sense of nosaltgia to all of them. When they stopped coming they were all devastated, but life got too hectic and their moms couldn't take them anymore.

Every year on the week before Christmas the three of them would come here with their mothers to watch the annual Christmas boat parade. Watching boats decorated in lights and blasting Christmas music float past was the highlight of any little kids week. Donating to Toys for Tots and eating the food their mothers snuck in was always so exciting. Exhausted as they walked back to the empty lot where cars parked for free and falling asleep on the ride home became a critical memory.

It was different now. The empty lots were now tall apartment buildings and shopping centers. They've seen this place on the Kelly Show before, someone once won a vacation here. Why? What was so special about it, a couple of years ago there was nothing here, now everything is here.

They hate how it looks now. It all feels like a lie, like it's all fake. This area has become a place for the upper middle class and the rich. It's weird to think that just over the bridge you can see many low income homes and homeless people.

Everything on this side of the bridge had changed, it has become unrecognizable and ruins their sense of nostalgia. It ruins their perception of their past fun times. No one talks about the Boat Parade anymore. The only talk about the new buildings and the time when politics took over the parade. They begin to feel the disappointment their parents feel. when visiting their hometown. "Wow. Nothing is the same anymore." When their parents say it they don't really understand it, but now they've experienced it first hand. They've watched the city they once know become something they can no longer navigate.

"I don't know where anything is anymore."