When coming home to my mom telling me with excitement that her and my dad were this year’s “Grand Marshals” I really didn’t comprehend what that meant. After some digging for the past week of what it meant to achieve this award, I have come to realize that no better duo deserves it more than my parents.
My mom and dad are pretty well known in tiny Weiser, Idaho. With my mom owning The Flower Basket, I always get told from high school girls how excited they are to receive their corsage for Girls League or prom. It fills my heart with pure joy when random people from school compliment my mom’s wonderful work. Aside from my mother and her flower business, she is a pretty amazing person. With my mother being sick, she has life a little bit harder than most. Sore legs and a tired body is my mothers normal. It is incredible to me that even with the circumstances of her illness, she never runs out of kindness. She is always the first one to step up and help those around her in a heartbeat. She is always willing to lend a hand when needed. Her continuous years of never ending support towards others is incredible. With her creative mind, she is able to make beautiful arrangements that give people the little sunshine they never knew they needed. Each arrangement she makes gives people the love that no one knew existed. I am honored to be called her daughter and be the mini Dana.
Apart from The Flower Basket, my parents also own two gyms. With this journey of owning gyms, my dad has been able to express his ability of being an amazing coach. My dad teaches crossfit training to 25 kids 5 days a week for an hour. Each teen that participates in crossfit is always greeted with my dad’s mindset of “Kick today’s butt!” Yes, a silly little saying. But those three words have taught not only the teens but the adults that come in the morning everyday to push themselves. To learn that they are capable of achieving hard things. With the years of having body image dysmorphia, I have had a really hard time loving my body. Accepting who I am. With my dad, he has been able to teach me that it is okay to be Quincy. That learning to love myself is one of the greatest things you could ever learn. I have been able to go to the gym and make the best version of myself with an outstanding mindset. My dad continues to change peoples lives in incredible ways. I will always look up to my dad for being the inspiration for people to never give up. To always try. And not only to love others, but themselves.
With being the eldest daughter in the Clary family I have been able to observe and learn over these past 17 years. My mother and father have shown me what it truly means to be amazing people. Dana and Toby have not only given me an example to follow but have given me a beautiful heart to give people. Over the past years of high school I have learned from my role models that kindness wins. That showing never ending love and support to everyone around you is the greatest feeling you will ever receive. I can’t wait to be the same example to my peers in the upcoming years of adulting. Being granted Grand Marshals for this year’s Fiddle Festival Parade could not have been more fitting for my really awesome parents.
By Quincy Clary.
