I'm home!
I had a wonderful weekend with my youngest sister and her family. They had a ton of stuff planned and we filtered through it and settled on one thing here, and another thing there, and it turned out to be a laid back visit that was still jam packed.
Oldest Kid is a freshman now, and her sister is an eighth grader. OK is in the marching band, and this band is very competitive. I was supposed to see them march at the football game on Friday night, and then we were going to attend part of a band competition, so that I could see the band once more. Having been a band director in a former life, this is near and dear to my heart, and I was really looking forward to it.
Unfortunately, OK's band director is not happy with the "closer," the last song they perform before leaving the field, so he reorganized the schedule. I got to see the band perform all but the closer as a pregame entertainment for the foot ball game. It was homecoming, and there were other activities scheduled on the field at half time. The band marched out in casual attire, rather than their uniforms. They all wore navy blue "hoodies," which are oversized hooded sweatshirts, with their names on the back and the school name on the front.
Of course, my eyes were on OK to see how she was doing as a newbie marcher, so I didn't get to see much of the overall picture. She was fine....earnest.....long legged....hard-working. It's a joy to see her become involved in something that was so important to me at one time in my life.
On Saturday, rather than go to the competition, the band gathered at nine in the morning, and they practiced for EIGHT HOURS! We had a lazy morning at home. I worked with Younger Sister on a sewing project, visited with the cat, checked out the herb garden and deck, and generally was lazy. Around noon, we took YS to see if there was anything she could do to help the marchers and hang out with friends. The band mothers had provided hot lunch for the kids, and they were all in line, so I my only chance to see them march was Friday night.
My sister and her husband and I spent the afternoon at a cookout at his boss's home and we called it a night early. Sunday morning, I went for a walk with my sister, had a wonderful breakfast with the entire family, chatted with them for a while, listened to YS play her saxophone, had lunch, gathered things up and lit out for home.
I've made the trip back and forth enough that I don't keep a map beside me. I decided to take the long way, and missed a turn I wanted to take, so I had a pleasant detour through the fields and a small town in North Central Illinois. The harvest is well under way, but most of the farmers were taking Sunday off. Even with the detour, I was home before sundown.
Soooo....I'm back. I had a lovely time, and I'm looking forward to visiting with them again in mid October. Then, Dear Husband and Mother will go with me, and we hope to see the next to the last band competition of the year. Now, I need to turn my attention to this office desk. Darn!