Extra! Extra! Read all about it.....!

Remember those old black and white movies from the 1940s? A ragamuffin newsboy would stand on a crowded city street corner and yell Extra! Extra! Read all about it! .... and in his arms would be so many just-printed newspapers that he could barely hold them all.

So this afternoon, when I pulled out the "Extra!" edition of the local newspaper from our mailbox, I had to laugh at the photo and story that was on the front page, above the crease, which is prime real estate in any newspaper.

The picture shows half a dozen kids marching down the middle of a street, all wearing identical patriotic tee-shirts. Along the sides of the road are the on-lookers, watching the kids and trying to keep cool while the parade passes by. And those kids? None other than "...members of the world famous Chappell Hill Marching Kazoo Band" as they took part in this past weekend's July 4th parade. And we were there at that parade.... and I was loving every second of that kazoo band's glory. Looking at this newspaper photo now, it still just makes me smile. I wish the photographer had his camera pointed at a different angle, to get in all the kazoo players.... there must be at least 25 or 30 of them.

This photo makes me think of my cousin L up in NY, who keeps telling me that not only do we live in a "nice little bubble" out here in the country, but she has also told me time and again that it must be like "living in a snow globe out there in the hills."

Yes indeed. And there is nothing wrong with that, in my humble opinion. One of the best parts of that parade on July 4th was something that just caught my eye because we were in the right place at the right time. My husband and I were walking down the middle of the street before the parade started, looking for our friends and neighbors so we could all sit together. As we were walking down the street, a little boy (about 7 or 8 or so) was running, flying, kicking up his sneakered-feet as fast as he could, with an ear-to-ear smile on his face and arms that were stretched out as far side-to-side as he could possibly get them. As he ran, he was saying "Nana! Nana! You're here!" I looked behind us and there was his nana, also with an ear-to-ear smile, and her outstretched arms were there, ready to catch him in a hug that only a grandma can give.... and that's just what she did. That little boy's feet just lifted him right off the ground and he jumped up into that hug and she grabbed hold of him and just hugged him to pieces, telling him that she promised him last week that she'd see him at the parade.

In those split-seconds of time, someone walking near the grandmother asked her "Goodness gracious, when was the last time you saw that boy?" Her answer: "Just last Tuesday is all." So from that Tuesday to the parade day of Saturday, all of that joy and anticipation built up in that little boy to the point that he couldn't hold himself back from running into his nana's arms when he saw her walking down the street. I have no idea why that touched me so, but it did, and that scene has been playing in my mind over and over since the weekend. It was a Norman Rockwell moment, if ever there was one.

So yes, and yes, to my cousin L up in NY. I am indeed living in a bubble out here, and I am indeed living inside a snow globe. And I'm happy to be here. Thrilled to be here. And this newspaper photo of the Chappell Hill World Famous Marching Kazoo Band-- I have cut it out of the paper, and it's hanging up near my computer desk. I intend to keep it close by, so on those days when I've seen a snake hiding near the back porch, or there's a black fuzzy tarantula perched on the railing of the backyard deck.... I plan to look at this picture of the kids with their kazoos and remember just why we're up here in the first place.