Friday, July 8, 2011

Flashback Friday: My 1st Parade:)

July 1981:
I'd survived Band Camp and only had one more hurdle: Marching around in parade formation so our band director could determine which guard members would be in the parade and who would not.

I had a disastrous practice. The first few times through Stars and Stripes Forever were okay, but then the trombone player marching beside me got the full force of my fatigue. I took his instrument out of his mouth several times, getting more and more mad at myself. There was a section we had to 'goose-step', and I constantly started off on the wrong foot. And since I was on the left side of the formation, EVERYONE watching from the sidelines as we marched around the back side of the practice field saw it. At the end of practice, I was in tears and positive I wouldn't be allowed to march.

July 4th, I dressed in my uniform (I'd been thrilled when I discovered I'd chosen Friend D's old uniform hat!) and went to line up for the parade. I was placed back near the tubas, and did fairly well, except for that darned goose step! Mom followed the parade route and took pics. One is me clearly in step; the next, I have my right leg raised while everyone else has their left one up in the air! Ah well...I was a rookie....

And at the end of the route, I was thrilled when I was chosen to perform in the Traverse City Cherry Festival Parade:) But I also learned a valuable lesson about friendship.

The group of girls I'd been palling around with during the trip to Michigan all headed to the top of the Schues Mountain Chalet lodge. I followed them....and discovered there were enough beds for everyone except me. I also heard one of the girls on the phone making dinner reservations for the six of them. Yup...my new 'friends' had left me out. I ended up sharing a pullout bed with a flute player and going to the grocery store to get sandwich ingredients for my own lonely dinner that night. I don't think I ever told my mom about it. She'd made it clear I was not to hang around her and the other chaperones; I was to make my own friends.

The parade went well! At the end of the evening when we watched the recast, I was on camera for about ten seconds, then due to the camera angle, marched off camera. The next shot was the guard member on the opposite side of where I was. Sore feet and all, it was a great trip, and I had a great time on the diving board during our free time.

After we arrived home from Michigan, Mom, my sister, and I left for a three-week vacation in Florida. I'd survived my first band trip; my first parade; and was now ready to relax before tackling a new high school.

Next Month: Getting a huge reality check about age differences.

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