Where Have All The Beads Gone?

It’s a Small World!

Yeah, it was a catchy tune but after a while I just wanted it to go away because it was stuck in my head and replaying like a broken record. Are you humming it now? Lately I’ve been thinking about that song.

Do you remember when that song first came out? I didn’t. I knew it felt like a lifetime ago but I couldn't place it chronologically. I was pretty close to that inital thought. It originated with the 1964 New York World’s Fair. After the fair closed it was moved to Disney and did its debut (1966) with the refurbished song we all remember. That song was actually written during the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Yes, it was almost a lifetime ago.

It all happened long before we became the computer savvy people we are today. I still reel with the thought that I can talk in “real time” via electronic mail or instant message with someone I have never met in a country on the other side of the globe. It just blows me away. I’d of never thunk it back then. A small world…..I thought NOT.

So what made me so nostalgically remember that song? This week I’ve sent out beads to South America – Chile, The Netherlands, Austria, and Canada. I guess I’m feeling just a tad global. It’s not like I’m McDonald's – billions served here but it tickles me to think of handmade lampwork beads all over the globe.

About six months ago I even sent one to Russia – Moscow to be exact. One set of my grandparents were from Russia. They never thought they would see this global economy. They thought the iron curtain would be forever strong. I wish they were around to see this – to read the information in Russian that had been translated over the Internet for me.

Where are your beads traveling to? Some fellow bead makers beads are going to fly in a space shuttle above our world! How grand that will be. And how wonderful they will be given to the Beads of Courage project for children fighting cancer.

Just beads….out there circling the globe on land and in the air! It’s a small world after all Walt. You were right!

Lyrics:

It's a world of laughter, A world of tears. It's a world of hopes, And a world of fears. There's so much that we share, That it's time we're aware, It's a small world after all.

It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small, small world.

There is just one moon, And one golden sun. And a smile means, Friendship to every one. Though the mountains divide, And the oceans are wide, It's a small world after all.

It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small, small world.