Good Idea - Bad Idea
It’s time for the annual Chicago St. Patrick’s Day parade queen contest. Bridget is still reeling from her one attempt several years ago, not realizing that it is persistent participation that brings many young ladies of Irish descent to the seat of honor in the parade. So I had this scathingly brilliant idea. This year may be the first (and is certainly the last) that all four von Huben girls are eligible (17-26 years old, unmarried, no outstanding criminal warrants) to participate in the contest. I think the mere appearance of four sisters would merit a mention on the news or in the Trib (if not catching the attention of the judges) Fran, who was, by the way, not the most resistant to the idea, asks, “Why?” What can I say? It seems cool. I must have a dormant stage-mother lurking inside of me, ready to spring into action with a moderate amount of incentive.

And if we can’t pull this off, there is a similar contest in the Andersonville neighborhood for a St. Lucia queen in December. Being an ethnically diverse family, we could get a lot of play out of this sister act.