Forward march

One of the best reasons to open those eyes and roll out of bed every day is the very real possibility you will experience something so wild, so unexpected, that you could never have seen it coming. It doesn't happen every day. Let's face it, most days pass without a hint of excitement. There are times you can predict every moment of your day. From the first monotonous stroke of the toothbrush, to the final pull of the covers over your tired, bored body.

But then there are the days that make you stand up and take notice. Days when something happens that makes you gaze anew and shake your head in disbelief. Days like I had yesterday.

My adventure started out routine enough. I was deeply involved in living the dream, chugging along in the Green Machine to Eagle hot-spots like Albertsons grocery store and the post office. I was just returning from a riveting visit to the library when my brush with the bizarre took place.

As I was pulling the Jeep into the garage, I noticed a large contingent of people marching up the street on my left. We live on a fairly busy street, but the traffic usually consists of cars and the occasional golf cart. I've never seen a large group of people marching in the middle of that street before, so this was quite a shock.

When I got out of the Jeep, I noticed a familiar yet strange sound coming from the group. I instantly recognized the sound as bagpipes blasting at full volume. I ventured to the end of the driveway to get a closer look and saw the group was actually a very large number of high school kids. They were all dressed in Medieval attire and chanting something that I couldn't quite decipher. Fully intrigued, I couldn't help myself. I walked up to the group of at least 30 knights and damsels and asked the obvious question.

"What's going on?" I asked, trying my best to act like I see large Medieval parades in front of my house all the time.

"We're doing our Medieval Mustang March," a fair-haired lady of the castle answered. "We do it every year. We're marching to the elementary school."

Well, why didn't you say so? The Medieval Mustang March! Of course! Why didn't I guess?

It appears that Eagle High School's mascot is the Mustangs, and every year students dress up in courtly attire and march through the neighborhood to the elementary school located behind my house.

So there you have it. I was methodically cruise-controlling my way through another day, until a parade of Medieval high school kids marched to bagpipe music in front of my house. How's that for unexpected?

March on kiddies!

- Dave