Talk about timing

For a long time now, I've been wondering what happened to the marching band at my high school. After I graduated, my band director stuck around for two more years before moving on. If what I found online is correct, he has moved on from where he was after he left Marshall. Anyway, since he left in 2004, Marshall (my high school) wasn't able to hire another band director till 2006. During those two years, instruments were stolen, everything was put into storage, and the music program was gone. Alumni like me wondered what was going on and if there was a band anymore.

Well, I don't have to wonder anymore.

Tonight, I was supposed to take my brother to Marshall at seven. I didn't get home till eight. He said he didn't want to go anymore. A few minutes later, he changed his mind. I am so glad that he did. Talk about timing. When I dropped off my brother, I noticed the band room was open and there were some guys leaving. To be honest, the person who I guess was the music teacher didn't look old enough to be one (to me anyway). I thought he was another student. So, I parked and walked up to the band room. I was nervous about approaching them. I didn't know what to say. I watched the teacher lock up the room and check to make sure they were locked. That reminded me of all the times Juan, Parker, and I locked up the band room at the end of the day. As they talked, I thought about how was I going to approach them.

Finally, I walked up to them and said, "I know this may seem like a stupid question, but does Marshall still have a band?" We talked for about half an hour. Marshall did not have a marching band, but they did have a pep band. The teacher (James) explained what happened after Parker left. He asked me questions about what band was like when I was in it. I answered them as best as I could. It has been five years. I told him I graduated in 02. He said he graduated in 01. No wonder I thought he looked like he could be one of the kids. He's pretty young himself. I'm curious to see where James is going to go with the band. He said he didn't want to do a full marching band with the competitions and everything. He wanted to the focus to be on the music, not ... I guess not the performing part.

I have dropped off and picked up my brother at Marshall several times this year. And this is the first time I have ever seen anyone come out of the band room. Talk about perfect timing! Well, timing actually isn't always perfect. Because about fifteen minutes after I left Marshall, my brother called me. I had to go back and get him. When I got back to Marshall, I waited in the car for him and his friend for awhile. I didn't mind. The funny part was, I was going through an old phone bill looking for a phone number (since I lost several when my phone was stolen). While I was looking through it, I felt my car shake and heard something hit the front of my car. Some of Billy's friends had been tossing a football around. I had thought about backing my car up so they wouldn't hit me, but I didn't. I should have. Because one of the guys didn't catch the ball and it did hit my car. I looked up and they were laughing and looking guilty. Billy came over and I rolled my window down. His friends told him to tell me that they were sorry. Then the two guys came over and apologized too. It was quite funny actually.

One more thing ... to echo my blog entry from Saturday... boy am I glad I'm not going to high school now with band directors like James and Joe (Joe is the band director from Arroyo).