St. Jude Memorial March

The Chicago Police Department pays tribute to those officers who have died in the line of duty with the annual St. Jude Memorial March. As my boyfriend is one of Chicago's finest men in blue (both literally and figuratively), I went to the parade today; it's only my second year attending, but I'll go every year, whether or not my boyfriend is a Chicago police officer. I'll admit, there is a part of me that finds this event more than a little titillating, as I am not immune to the appeal of thousands of men marching down the street in uniform (far from it). But as I stood there with butterflies in my stomach over the chance to see my handsome boyfriend in his uniform (or at all for that matter), I am reminded of the families in attendance that would love to see their sons or daughters in uniform just one last time as well. With the bagpipes (a requisite element of any parade in Chicago where even one Irishman will be in attendance- even if bagpipes are, in fact, Scottish) and the officers lining the parade route holding pictures of fallen compatriots, I was reminded that police officers are heroes, even if there are a few that taint the image of police officers along the way, and that I could lose my favorite one at any time. All in all, it's quite a solemn occasion.

sol·emn (sŏl'əm)
adj.
Deeply earnest, serious, and sober.

Dictionary defintion of solemn
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyrigth 2004, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.