la vie en rose

There is something that, if I did it with any regularity, I could lose hours and hours of my life doing. That would be reading old newspapers. I think they are one of the best ways to see how life was like back whenever the paper was from. One time I was unpacking some teacups from my grandma and they were wrapped in papers from only like 10 years before, but I still found them fascinating. The older the better. My parents saved newspapers from big events that happened in their younger lives - the Alaska earthquake in 1964, the assassinations of JFK and RFK. I liked reading the headline stories, but I really liked reading the advertisements and the classified ads (Side story: my mom worked for the classified ad department out of high school. That's how my parents ended up dating. He saw her in a backless green chiffon dress (wish it was still around!) as his buddy Pete's date. The boys were in a car club together. (Quick Dad: what car were you driving at the time? My dad can date events in his life to what car he had. Wish those were still around, too!) My dad thought she was pretty cute (she was a local model - those are fun newspapers to looks at), and he knew she worked at the classifieds. He went in to list his boat for sale. He told me he had been planning on listing it for awhile, but now he had some incentive. Only problem? It was winter. In Alaska. But hey, he got the girl and his boat eventually sold). Anywho, today when I went to the Post Office I saw the Seattle Times with the headline:

OBAMA: "THIS IS OUR MOMENT"

Illinois Senator clinches historic nomination

And I thought, "Maybe I should have been saving newspapers from the big events in my life." How cool would it be to have a newspaper from the day you were born or the day you got married? I would have saved newspapers from Columbine and September 11th, too, if I'd been thinking about it (although, just like my parents can on their "big" events, I could tell you exactly where I was and exactly what I was wearing and doing when those 2 things happened. That probably means more than a newspaper). So I bought today's newspaper. I hope my kids will one day look at that paper and ask what it was like to be alive right here on the cusp of something huge. And I will wave my cane at them and say, "Well, kiddos, first get off my lawn. Then I'll tell you. Here's a cookie."