Christmas 2021, better than the last but still needs tweaks.
@hamiltonthemusical taught us to keep the faith. We will be one nation again.
@cgav8r I immediately thought of you.
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Not all magicians wave wands....
It’s been an amazing season. It’s gone by shockingly fast. In a little more than a week, your girl will conduct her band for the last time, at Lucas Oil Stadium, arguably the most important venue in the competitive marching arts. From the first time I set foot in that building in 2017, I’ve wanted to go out on that field. The tricky thing about achieving your dreams is that then they’re over and you need new ones. The end will come, and my heart will break, and my heart will rise, and we will go on. It’s been an incredible run. I wouldn’t give back a minute.
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Tomorrow is the last day of our last band camp. Your girl turned 17 on Tuesday and celebrated by conducting. And she’s about 17 shades more tan than this picture, which was taken the first week.
It’s been a wild ride of a summer but this marching season is already shaping up to be something special. I hear school starts next week, but as usual her semester will start for real on November 1. Before that, we’ll walk out together onto the turf at Lucas Oil Stadium for her last performance and they’ll call her name as drum major and my heart will leap, getting to help her live her dream. Stay tuned: it’s going to be incredible.
You know, @oak-and-maple, I wouldn’t rule it out.
From the time school-related obligations ended in early June, “summer” was 47 days. She spent 5 of those at drum major camp, and another 35 at our state-sponsored governor’s scholars program. In total, she was gone more this summer than the rest of her life put together.
We’re a small, tightly knit family. It was tough. But it was great for her. And in each instance, she found a crew of new friends quickly, supplemented by a friend or two she brought with her. It bodes well, for college and for life in the real world. So I’d watch your mailbox; that bracelet might arrive any day.
Most-valued human quality: resilience?
I’ve reached that point in my life where summer is a treasure. Granted, we all only get so many perfect summer days. That’s just as true when you’re 18 as when you’re 50. But it means more, is more palpable, as time marches on.
We’re in our second full week of 16 being gone for her summer academic institute. That started 5 days after she got back from drum major camp. Total days off this summer: 8.
After the ceaseless series of challenges that was junior year, I had some fool notion we’d spend some time getting caught up on the home front before we go on vacation in mid-July. Instead, we dove headfirst into drum corps season. Couple late nights out, plus one road trip. Not a lot but it adds up when you’re already bone tired. Though it is so worth it.
Tuesday night we were at a performance under the summer sky about 90 minutes away. Wednesday night at the same time, they were wheeling my dad into emergency surgery. It went well, he’s starting to recover appropriately, but it’s been a lot. My mom is working her way up to needing a hip replacement, so there’s some interesting juggling happening at our house. Given that I’m an only child, my wife has been a literal godsend. It’ll get harder when band camp starts but we’ll manage.
There’s been no time to think. Or really to feel. Just time to react. I’m weirdly okay right now. Maybe I’ll crash when things calm down. Or maybe I’ll just keep going. I’m in the solutions business. Sometimes big problems feel good.
Relish your perfect summer days. - D
@midatlanticmusings, here’s your SDS. For me, I’m right on time and perfectly composed. Still adjusting to 16 being gone for another month. But vacation is in three weeks, and drum corps season starts today. Now if it would just stop raining every &$@?! day.