The Trip Report
Welcome to the fourteenth edition of The Trip Report, a monthly briefing on youth and intergenerational events. This month, I will share about a parade of cars gathered together to celebrate and honor Faith Lutheran’s 2020 graduates.
Margaret McMillan came prepared. When she pulled her white car up at the home of Lily and Mason Massa, there was a box of noisemakers in her passenger seat, ready to be handed out to fellow Faith members. Dianna and Pat Snyder had several balloons taped to the outside of their car, and Pastor Ben and Annalisa Colahan had big signs to congratulate each graduate on our parade route. With everyone prepared for celebration, it was time for our car parade to begin.
Lily and Mason led us on a loop around a portion of their farm. Both Lily and Mason have been promoted from 8th grade. Lily will attend Inspire and Mason will attend Chico High next year. I followed them as they drove their Gator farm vehicle, as did the rest of the cars, and I saw them smiling and having a great time. Our car parade was fairly large, and as we made a small U-turn to head back towards their house, each car shouted and honked their congratulations.
From Lily and Mason’s house, our next stop was Sebastian Riggins. Sebastian finished Kindergarten this year! His family stood with him in the yard, and once again, I saw the proud, smiling face of another Faith graduate, surrounded by his loving community. The sounds of Pomp and Circumstance blasting at full volume from my car stereo faded as I drove away from their house, and we continued on to the next.
Over the course of our parade, we stopped to celebrate Kendall Stafford (8th grade grad), Julian Randolph (8th grade), Alex Van Dusen (Kindergarten), and Abby Bentler (our only high school grad in the group). We managed to keep our group of cars relatively grouped together as we drove from house to house, a small miracle considering some of the intersections we had to navigate. It was honestly just an absolute blast to drive around and be goofy in celebration.
As we pulled away from our final stop and waved to all of the folks who joined in our small parade, I was filled with pride at our Faith Lutheran community, who values academic success and knows the importance of a good celebration. From the many milestones we celebrated this year, to many more we will celebrate in the future, I am glad to call my Faith Lutheran family my siblings in Christ, and especially when we get to celebrate together. Here’s to celebration.
Have an adventure-worthy idea for an upcoming youth/intergenerational event? Interested in becoming involved with Faith Lutheran’s youth? Colter would love to hear from you! colter.g.murphy@gmail.com