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On Friday, Oct. 1, after classes were over, we packed up, jumped in Erin's car and headed north towards Clarion, PA, where Chris was scheduled to be the Grand Marshall of the Annual Autumn Leaf Festival Parade the following day. We stayed in Erin's family's motorhome at a nearby campground. On Saturday morning we were up by 7:30 am. By 9, we had our spots reserved on the parade route. Also at this time, we each agreed to a responsibility during the parade. Erin was to take pictures while Lindsay was to throw a small stuffed Steeler toy (with a small message attached) at Chris. The parade finally began and we spotted Chris sporting his new haircut. The next several minutes were a blur. When it was all over, it was found that Erin had only taken 2 pictures and Lindsay was still in possession of the toy. We are such losers!! However, we didn't give up hope. We darted through the back roads to the end of the parade route. When we got there, we learned that Chris had already passed. Now we were devastated. Months of planning, and we screw up royally.
We dejectedly walked back to Main Street to watch the rest of the parade. While passing the courthouse, however, we saw an old man surrounded by 12 year old girls. Since such a sight is very uncommon, we joined the outskirts of the small gathering. He proceeded to inform the girls that he was Chris's grandfather. We found his entire story to be highly doubtful. Nonetheless, after he left the group, we casually followed him. Of course, he heads to the VIP section and sits with Chris's aunt from the Rosie Show and Chris's grandma from MTV All Access. Once again we had screwed up. For the rest of the parade, we stood behind the family. Afterwards, Lindsay found enough courage to walk up to his grandma. Erin stayed behind for two reasons: 1) She didn't want to invade Chris's family's personal space. 2) She is chicken shit. As it turned out, Chris's grandmother was super sweet and was more than willing to hand deliver Chris's gift.
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