A Season of My Life Revisited

Most of you know, or have read, that I marched with the drum corps, ALLIANCE, for the last six and a half months. No, I have not marched since high school, so yes, I realized that some things never change. I had a love/hate relationship with color guard in high school, and that love/hate relationship continues today. Haha. I call it a love/hate relationship because I often dreaded going to rehearsal, hated the heat and the fact that I had no social life, but in the end, loved that I participated in this great activity again! I am so grateful for the opportunity to perform again, and realized that I missed it a lot. However, I have no regrets of taking a six year break during college and thereafter. I learned a lot and had so much fun. I got to know some great people, as well as further build existing friendships. So let me tell you the story...

After graduating college, I was given the opportunity to work with the current guard instructor at Marietta (my alma mater). I really didn't want to do it, because I still had the bitter taste of all things guard from high school. The band director did much convincing, and there I was helping out at Band Camp. I don't think I was much help that fall because I was trying to get the art of teaching under my belt. The next year, the guard instructor left because she got married, so it was just me. Band Camp was a little rough because I was there by myself and trying to write work. A big shout-out to Nicole for all her help with choreography!! I managed to make it through the season and through my second year of teaching. I really did enjoy the girls and the good times we had, so I decided to try for a winter guard. Unfortunately, it just didn't happen. However, Nicole did have a winter guard at Sprayberry, so I went to help her out when I could. I loved it. I remembered why I had agreed to help out at Marietta.

Nicole has marched with ALLIANCE for several years now, and has pestered me about trying it for a couple of years. Well, after much coercion on her part and discussions with my mom, I decided to give it a shot. I told Nicole I would go to one camp and see how it went. I was sure that I wouldn't remember how to do anything and convinced that I would walk out hating it. Oh, how wrong I was!! I fell in love with it all over again and joined ALLIANCE. Ask any of my friends and they will tell you that I hated going to rehearsals every weekend. One reason is because we always seemed to have it on a weekend that my friends planned something fun. By the time our season was nearing its end, I was DONE. I had been through three weeks of Band Camp with Marietta, plus mulitple rehearsals and performances with ALLIANCE, and on top of all that, I started a new school year with a challenging class! I was so over it. I really didn't have motivation for anything. However, I knew I had an obligation to fulfill (and a plane ticket to Rochester) so I flew up for Championships on Labor Day weekend. ALLIANCE was in 11th place (out of 13) going into Prelims. We weren't sure if our performance on Saturday had been enough, but it was! We ended Prelims in 9th place. On Sunday, we went out on the field again for Finals, and just had fun. We knew what we had to do, but we also knew it was the last time this group of people would be performing together again. We finished in 8th place. It was awesome. As I was walking back to the truck with everyone, I turned to my mom and said, "I'm so irritated because this makes it all worth it and makes me love this." Haha. That's terrible, but so true. So, that's my story of "going back in time" and doing something I thought I'd never do again. I don't have an answer if you ask me if I'm going to do it again because I honestly have no idea. I have lots of things to consider and some decisions to make. But I have time, so for now, I am going to enjoy the free time I have and give my body a break!
H, me, and Nicole on Saturday before we headed to warm-up for Prelims.
Kail, Robin, Tammy, (freaky) Tim, Nicole, H, me, Michelle, and Ayaka on Saturday night after we performed and before we went to dinner!

All the guard girls on Sunday before our Finals performance!

So the same as I had a love/hate relationship with color guard in high school, that same love/hate relationship has continued in my adult life. But, when I look back and reflect on the times, they really were wonderful in both experiences. We will have to wait and see what the future holds!

Off to watch Army Wives and hit the sack in preparation for my crazy week ahead - have a good one everybody!!