The Standing Ovation

Very strange.

I'm driving to work today on the Mass Pike and I notice a car pulled over with a guy standing next to it applauding. On the Mass Pike.

And then the more I drove the more I noticed more and more cars pulled over with the (I assume) drivers applauding while standing next to said cars. Dozens of cars.

At first.

So I'm thinking maybe the Red Sox are scheduled to drive by or maybe some soldiers or Obama or something. But there is no mention of it on the radio.

Maybe the marathon is early? Perhaps a parade?

Then I drive by the rest stop/ gas station thingy and now there are like hundreds of people there standing and applauding. And not really at anything in particular.

The closer I get to Boston the more cars are pulled over...on both sides of the Pike! Motorcades don't drive down both sides.

The Pike is now almost deserted of actual cars driving....everyone is on the sides and the lines are now two deep. It's starting to freak me out.

The applauding stays constant.

Finally it's time to get off the Pike and the off-ramp is now clogged with folks clapping and whistling and hooting and hollering!

And the Toll Guy is standing in front of his booth and waves me thru without paying! And he's clapping.

Very odd.

So now I'm driving on side streets to my shop. And guess what?

Folks are standing in front of their houses and clapping and hootin' and hollerin'...so I decide to start going down even smaller side streets to see if it ends.

It doesn't! Every little side road all the way to my shop has folks applauding and smiling and just whoopin' it up.

Finally I get to where I'm going. I park out back and walk around to the front.

HA!

All the shop owners and customers are lining the street as if a parade is coming by or something. Smiles everywhere!

But there is no parade. No police. None of the usual signs of anything unusal.

Virtually no traffic. Just folks clapping.

And clapping. And clapping.

Finally I just go up to the guy next door and ask him:

ME: "So what the heck is going on? Did we win a war or something? For the last twenty miles folks have just been screaming and clapping and having a good old time. What is going on?"

HIM: "It's 65 degrees out and the sun is shining! Rejoice my friend! The long winter of hell is over!"

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PS: I made all that up. It didn't really happen.

It should have.