I probably don’t tell my kids often enough how proud I am of them and their accomplishments and I know that I really should. This past weekend was one of those times that I was really proud of my oldest daughter.
She is an exceptional kid…. smart, talented, and pretty good looking (ok… I may be biased on this last one). She has been in band since 5th grade as well as jazz band since 7th grade and has played the alto sax the entire time. She is so good that she hasn’t been challenged by another student.. ever.. and she’s now finishing up her freshman year. I think that this is simply amazing.
Caitlin was asked to march with the TMB (Trojan Marching Band) last weekend in the Tulip Festival parade in Holland, Michigan. To me this was a really big deal because the freshman do not march or play with the 10th- 12th grade kids. As a matter of fact the band program in our town is a pretty big deal and not just anyone can take part in band. It’s serious here! Here’s the deal, band is open to anyone through 9th grade and then after that you basically have to prove that you’re good enough to be in band… there’s a playing test, a written test (I think), and possibly even a marching test (my daughter told me & I’m old and tend to forget things).
By being asked to take part in the parade told me that she is good enough and that she knows what she’s doing (I already knew this….duh), but it more or less confirmed it all.
Like any proud parent we dropped her off at school to take one of the four Greyhound buses to Holland and then we followed. The weather was terrible. Rainy, wet, and really damn cold considering the entire week previous was sunny, warm and about 80 degrees. But we dressed for the weather and had our umbrellas in hand and I swore that it would not rain during the parade!
TMB was a premier band meaning that it played in the street (3 different locations) prior to the start of the parade. Of course I was there staking out my spots (yes… spots… both sides of the street since I didn’t know what direction they’d face when they stopped) and had my camera in hand. I’m pretty sure that my daughter was thinking that I was crazy or ‘that’ mom… you know the one who shoves their way in to get the perfect pictures of their kid. Yea, I was sorta that way but in my defense those other people did not have kids in the band nor were they taking pictures or video. Oh…. I said excuse me too.. I wasn’t that rude.
I was able to get a lot of decent pictures during the premier band show as well as during the parade. Needless to say I’m very proud of her accomplishments as well as those of her younger sisters. To me they’re all amazing kids.