Old Friend Book 5

Chapter #23

Chapter 23
March 17, 2023

Sam’s POV
We got everyone into the suburban and are heading into the city. The pure excitement I am feeling is like no other. Well other than when I married Scarlett and when the kids were born and what not but you know what I mean. I can’t help but feel a sense of pride being part Irish. I grew up admiring our family’s ancestry and I want to share it with the kids as well. As we are driving Scarlett gets a call from Lizzie asking where we were, guess we got too excited and forgot to mention it to them. Whoops. Scarlett informs Lizzie that we are going into the city for the parade and she lets Scarlett know that they will meet us up. I found a parking garage and pulled into and parked the car. “Alright everyone remember the buddy system,” I say as I get out of the car. I grab Janina out of her car seat and hand her over to Scarlett as I get Kai out of his car seat. I grab my backpack full of water bottles and snacks for the kids knowing they’ll probably want something during the parade. Scarlett puts on sunglasses and has her hair pulled back in a ponytail and puts on a hat. It’s not much of a disguise but hopefully we won’t draw too much attention. We all walk hand in hand and head down to the street. Admiring all the outdoor decor and flags flying. I put up a flag outside our home next to our pride flag. There’s music playing and people dancing. It is going to be a great day.

Scarlett’s POV
We follow Sam as she is on the hunt for the perfect spot to see the parade. We find a pretty big opening and she decides this is the best spot for us. We have some foldable chairs that we set up and take a moment to enjoy everything going on. It is 10:30 so we still have half an hour before the parade starts. I think this is the best time to tell Sam of my surprise. “Babe?” I say getting her attention. “Yes penguin?” She says. “I got a surprise for you today,” I tell her. “Oh? What’s that?” She asks. “I got us tickets to go see river dance at Madison Square Garden, front row.” I tell her. Her eyes go wide and she starts jumping up and down. “Are you serious!?” She asks excitedly. “Yes, Lizzie and Robbie will watch the kids so we get to enjoy it ourselves.” I tell her. She walks up to me and gives me a kiss. “Thank you so much Penguin,” she says. “You’re welcome, my cinnamon roll,” I say smiling and holding her hand. “Mama, mommy can we go get face paintings?” Emma asks, as she points to a stand that has face painting. “Of course sweetie, let’s go check it out,” I tell her. “Sam, are you coming or will you stay here?” I ask her. “I’ll stay here, I don’t wanna miss anything,” she says, making me laugh and shake my head. I grab Emma’s hand and it looks like Wyatt and Elizabeth want to join us as well so Jr comes along and we head over to the stand. The worker greets us kindly and shows the kids different designs they can get painted. Emma chooses a four leaf clover, Wyatt chooses a pot of gold and Elizabeth chooses a green and orange butterfly. Surprisingly they sit patiently as they get their faces painted. Jr. taking pictures on his phone to send to Sarah, Sam and Lizzie. He ends up wanting to get a Celtic cross but opts for it to be on his arm which luckily they allowed him to do. “Mom, are you going to get something?” Jr. asks. “I suppose I should since we are over here.” I tell him, while looking over the designs. I choose to get the Irish flag and a four leaf clover on the other side of my cheek. Once we finish I pay the lady and we head back to our area. We see that Lizzie and Robbie have joined us and they greet us excitedly. All of a sudden we hear bagpipes play and Sam shushes us and points to where it’s coming from. Looks like the parade is starting. Sam puts Kai on her shoulders, while Jr. has Wyatt on his. Robbie is holding Elizabeth in his arms and Lizzie has Janina. As the performers get closer to us, Sam excitedly starts dancing with Kai on her shoulders who is laughing up a storm. It is so cute watching them together. We take videos and pictures during the parade, even some of the Irish dancers come by us and hand out flags and gold chocolate coins to the kids. Once the parade ends we clap and cheer and start heading to car to head home.

A/N: hey everybody Chris here. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you all in the next one for the River Dance