Football Follies, Band Bonanza

Friday night, under the bright lights, my youngest daughter, her older sister and oldest brother performed with their respective bands at the high school football game.

I am really proud of each of them for playing an instrument and performing in front of a big crowd. My youngest son also plays an instrument (violin) with the string orchestra but they only perform two concerts during the school year. I doubt people want to hear violins during a football game.

I thought the band did well. I did spy a elementary kid or two pretending to play their instrument for one reason or another. They had a few hours earlier in the day to practice marching but it didn't show when they performed. But that was OK.

Before and after the band took the field, my wife and I watched the high school get the tar beat out of them as usual. The two previous years that we came to watch our 8th grader play at the game, were big losses also, but not like this time. Until the end of the 4th quarter, the score was 48-2. By some miracle, our team got two touchdowns and missed a field goal for a final score of 48-15.

I think we had a good time though but my wife and I are at the point that we can't really sit that long on the aluminum bleachers. Next year we will have to bring cushions.
After the game and everyone was leaving, we were wondering what was taking our daughters so long to exit the bleachers. When they got to the stairs, we realized that our 8th grade daughter was helping their band teacher out of the stands. He is blind and I guess everyone else left him. She usually ends up the one to help him when he needs it.

Since all the other elementary band members abandoned him, she helped him to the exit and I talked to his wife as to where she could meet us to pick him up. It was one of those fortuitious moments that life throws at you. It allowed us a few moments to get to know something about their band teacher. We have heard him play the piano during the high school concerts where he does an amazing job. Apparently he can hear a piece of music once and can replay it with little or no effort.

So, it was a good night despite the bug and the sore butts...