Since Richard was selected to be a library commissioner this meant that he got to march in the May Fair parade this year. I figured that this meant I had to at least go watch the parade, since every year we've lived in this town we've somehow managed to be out of town or otherwise too busy to take part in the festivities. But then somehow the library group needed more warm bodies, and instead of lounging in a chair on the side of the road with all the unwashed masses I ended up joining a small group of maroon -shirted library volunteers at the library before the parade started. We were all handed large poster boards sporting pictures of books on one side, and huge letters on the other, and we did a rather hasty practice of our little routine, which basically involved milling about in a group that was supposedly forming three straight lines, and spelling out either 'Library', 'Books', or 'Read'. Since I was the E, that meant I mostly hung to the rear of the chaos until it was my turn to zip forward and take my place between the R and the A and do my best to remember to flip the poster board so it was not only right-side up, but letter-side out.

Of the group, there were two of us who had been marching band geeks back in high school. So we automatically marched in tempo, and tried to keep our lines in some semblance of order. By the end of the (short) parade route, however, we two just gave us with humor, and figured that organized chaos was probably the better way of doing it anyway.

It was all actually quite fun. The route was mercifully short. The weather was perfect for marching in a parade. The people who packed the streets to watch us walk by cheered us on, even though the group holding the O's took a few tries to spell 'Books' correctly. And plus I got a free t-shirt out of the deal. Not bad at all for a few hours of shuffling down city streets and carrying a poster board in my hands.

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I just wanted to say thanks for the belated fulfillment of the last item on this past Christmas's wishlist. When she told us she was pregnant the rest of us couldn't contain our screams. It was all we could do not to cry, we're so happy for her. She's been trying so hard and for so many years, and this little baby will probably be her very best Christmas present ever come this December. So thanks, Santa, from the bottom of my heart. Of everything on my list to fulfill, this was the one I really wanted most of all.