Question for you

Do you ever wonder how time passes so very quickly?

I was reminded this week, again, of how fast it flies.

My youngest, who started going to band when he was a mere toddler...

...who for years was the 'water boy'.... a little blonde bundle of energy
who ran bottles of water back and forth from the sidelines during the endless hours
of setting drill and marching practice...


... who joined a percussion class in seventh grade, and the marching band one year later...

...is a senior.

From that first day of band camp, five years ago

when he fell right into that lovable family called marching band,

to seemingly endless days of heat and experiential education

to the first night he wore the uniform

and his first competition

to that first night that the band babies from the pit discovered unattended drums

and the upperclassmen handed over the sticks

there has been band.

There was some strange uniform changes in that freshman year.

until the next year, when we saw the error of our ways.

Then, as his junior year approached, he decided not to go back to band.

Camp started without him. It was a sad day, on so many levels.
I sat that day with my father-in-law, who was gravely ill.
You see, he'd never missed a football night performance.
He sat in 'his' seat, behind the band and watched his grandson so many nights.
He insisted that I 'make' the child go back to band.
We discussed a lot of things that day, including the fact that you can't make a child
like to do something, even if you know that it's in their best interest.

A week passed and things changed... a lot and I took this photo to my father in law,
who smiled and sighed happily when he saw it.

He did not live to see another ball game night filled with the sound of drummers, but he died knowing
that his grandson was where he belonged.

The junior year played on...

and it brings us to now...

an older boy, nearly a man, with lessons to learn and music to live life by and
those band friends to walk beside.

Oh, my goodness, how time has flown.

If you're a parent, scroll back and realize that these 5 years have passed quickly by.
Realize that you should take those photos, and make those trips and make those
memories with your kid, no matter what.


Don't wish you had done it,,, take the time to do it everyday.  Let them find the things
that they love, get on board and support them, for the time passes quickly.