After a quick run back home yesterday from Ocean Isle Beach to do laundry and get Nicholas packed for marching band away camp, the band is heading back to Frostburg MD for the next week to rehearse the new show away from the distractions of Raleigh (and in a much more favourable climate in the mountains!).
Last year’s trip was a bit rough for Nicholas as it was his first time well away from home and it was his first introduction to the marching band life…a double whammy right out of the gate! And you can imagine just how hard it was trying to help him keep it together long enough to get back to Raleigh from a few states away.
Fortunately for Nicholas, Mr Hunter and the other staff kept a close eye on him throughout the trip and he did survive the grind with the occasional moments that were touch-and-go.
In fact, the first words out of the the band director’s mouth upon their return was that “Nicholas really seems to hate marching band!” and it wasn’t unusual to have a couple of marchers feel that way after a week in Gulag Frostburg. I remember telling Mr Hunter that he was free to drop Nicholas from the band if he was truly undesirable but that we were of the mind that he couldn’t just up and quit the band on his own.
Fortunately, after a couple of weeks of rehearsal at home in more familiar surroundings before the start of the school year, Nicholas finally started seeing what his role in the overall show was going to be and did a complete 180…to the point where he was telling a former teacher that he adored at Carnage Middle School that he was actually enjoying the marching band.
A year later and he couldn’t wait to get on the bus and send me back to Ocean Isle post-haste! Sadly for that plan, the buses didn’t exactly load themselves so Nicholas and I were amongst the crew of ramp rats loading the cargo holds on the buses with bags and musical kit before it was time to bid him adieu to the rolling mountains of Frostburg State University for another week of marching about to exhaustion on a daily basis.
A trip he was more than happy to take and see through to a successful conclusion, I might add! 🙂
