Early this morning police were blocking off the streets that lead to the McKinney Texas town square. Signs said special event today. Driving around the backroads I saw lots of tents in the street and people running around with hammers and nails and various wares. I managed to slip into a parking place that had been overlooked before anyone else took it. I walked down the street to the square and even before I got to the square I encountered balloons and bubbles, people eating breakfast on the sidewalk. Wondering what was going on, I kept going till I spied a poster in a store window, Art and Jazz Festival.
Oh so that's what this is all about, I thought. Great! I thought, I love art and I love Jazz. I wondered when the music would start. I strolled around the square peeking into the tents where vendors were busily displaying their products to their best advantage. They mostly ignored me, for it was before 10:00am, the official starting time of the festival. I wandered around to the south side of the square. I noticed a musician holding an acoustic bass and I asked a man sitting on a bench when the music was supposed to start. He said 10:00am and that started an animated conversation.
He told me, when they start playing I'm going to get down and punctuated it with his rendition of the twist. I'm not very good at guessing ages but this man had to be at least 70. A much younger policeman walking by said that if he got down, he'd never get back up. I had to laugh at the old codger who was more more excited and enthusiastic than a person half his age. He invited me to sit on his bench. How could I resist, however, I had to leave before the band ever began to play and I never did see the old man "get down." I'm going back tonight and if he is still there I'm sure he will still be "getting down", and I will be cheering him on.