Guess Who Advanced to State Yesterday, Again!

WE DID! (okay, John and the Band did.)
This is a picture of them at Region where we competed to go to Area. We then went to Denton on Saturday to compete in Area. The region performance was a little rocky, not their best effort. They knew it before they ever left the field, but it was enough to qualify.

Yesterday at Area, was EPIC! First, our Band Director's wife's father passed away this last week and he was unable to be here. For Area. Our thoughts were with them, and we were worried about how the kids would handle it. The forecast was rain; scattered rain, with a possibility of severe weather in the afternoon. John's Aunt and Uncle flew in from Amarillo to see him march. We were scheduled to march at 10:45 so roll call was 6:00 a.m. We dropped John off and went over to Walmart and picked up some poncho's and a couple of umbrella's in case it rained.

Their assistant director said, if it was light rain, they'd probably march. If it rained hard, it would be postponed. If most of the bands made it through preliminaries and THEN it started to rain hard, then the preliminary scores would be used instead of finals. Otherwise we would have finals and winners announced, five would advance to state.

We got to the stadium at about 10:00 a.m. It was cloudy and cool, pretty nice weather if the rain held off. We got into the stands, at 10:15 the judges had a fifteen minute break, it sprinkled just long enough for us to break out our ponchos and put them on just in case. At 10:30 the band before us took the field and our kids lined up four minutes later. At 10:45 as they were about to move out onto the field, the announcer came on and said "We need to make a public service announcement. There is lightening moving into the area in ten minutes and we must postpone the competition. We ask that all participants please get back on their buses and we recommend that all spectators leave the stands and wait in your cars until the weather has passed." We were stunned. They were 5 minutes from marching their show, the show was 8 minutes long and 2 minutes to exit the field. We missed it by FIVE MINUTES. The kids went back to the bus. Mind you, the pit has to roll All the heavy equipment back to the truck. It's a lot of equipment. We grudgingly started back down the stairs toward the exits. We started to sprint as the rain started halfway to the car. There was big lightening and a pretty good downpour. When it started to lighten up, we checked the radar on some one's cell phone and it looked like it was right on the edge of where we were, if it kept to the west it was fine, if it crept to the east...more to come. It stopped raining long enough for us to decide there was a chance it had passed, so we left the car and went back in the stands with the rest of the spectators that were in agreement. They had a picture of the radar on the scoreboard, so we could see the storm just to the east of us. Peach didn't want to wear her poncho because it felt cold and wet, she wanted an umbrella, which I told her she couldn't have because if the competition continued, the people behind her, wouldn't be able to see. So she grouched and complained and it started to rain again. Poncho hoods up, and after the first few minutes it came a flood, of cold heavy drops, I gave her an umbrella, while struggling to keep myself covered. It didn't let up, so finally I yelled down the row at Charlie, "This is crazy! We should go back to the car." So up again, down the stairs Charlie and the rest headed for the car, but by the time we made it to the front gate, it was barely sprinkling again, so I stopped at the Pep Wear wagon to buy John a T-shirt, Melee' was with me and as we stood there wrapping up our business, one of our parents came by and said, "They're coming! The kids are getting out of the bus, they're going to march!" So we ran out to the car to tell Charlie and throw my bag in the car. We run up and it starts to rain again. Melee' and Peach decide they don't want a poncho and they take an umbrella and I say "Fine, but we'll have to stand at the rail instead of going up in the stands." They had a bench near the rail so we squatted there on the bench as our kids stood in a circle near the end zone and began to warm up. And THE MONSOON BEGAN! It came down the hardest coldest rain, I have ever had the privilege of sitting in.

Those kids warmed up, turned around, stood at attention and marched out onto that field like nothing I've ever seen. Our parents and fans in the stands started screaming, the kids yelled "PRIDE!" and I started crying. I've never been so proud in my whole life. They marched out there in the driving cold rain and marched an eight minute show. I don't know how they could see anything. I don't know how they could play anything. I don't know how they could twirl anything. They marched that program as if they did it in the rain everyday and twice on Sundays. It's something we'll be talking about for years. They'll never forget it. The rain started to let up just a little toward the end, but not a lot. And one more band performed after we did before they postponed again.

We left and the kids went to lunch and they were SO PUMPED! They were so thrilled with how they did and playing in the rain gave them a hardship story they will tell over and over! They bonded and the atmosphere was unbelievable. It was an hour or two before the competition began again and we were on our way home, there would be no finals. Our arch nemesis marched in the sun, no rain for them. They came in first, we placed second. They beat us by one point. One point.

We are on our way to state this week, with a new confidence and excitement that I've never seen and we can't wait to see what happens on Monday the first!