You're in the Army now (for the week)...

This post is one I published exactly a year ago about 18's experience in San Antonio. If you're an old friend, please enjoy it all over again with me. If you're a new friend, this is why I am so proud of my kids:

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On July 21, 2014 my oldest received a letter from the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) which stated that she was accepted as a member of the 2015 U.S. Army All-American Marching Band. Over 2000 high school seniors auditioned for this prestigious honor and only 125 were selected to march in the band. And my kid was one of them.

Overwhelming? You betcha! Even HARDER to believe? We couldn't tell anyone publicly until the members of the U.S. Army's Bowl Selection Tour came to her high school to make the announcement.....on November 21. Did you happen to catch that we found out in July and had to wait 4 full months before we were allowed to discuss it? Yeah, that was easy. (NOT)

No FB announcements, no Tweeting it, no posting it in an Instagram story (whatever that is). Nope, close friends and family only. Do you KNOW how badly I wanted to shout it from the rooftops to everyone I've ever met in my whole life? I don't know who had a harder time keeping it a secret, Jenn or me. Anyway, the day came and with tremendous fanfare and media presence, the announcement was made and we could FINALLY tell everyone.

She received an all-expenses paid trip to San Antonio, Texas. They made all the travel arrangements, picked them up from the airport and once there, put them up in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, had them on a regimented schedule (as the Army will do), fed them, clothed them, provided them with beautiful instruments, fed them some more, transported them to and from rehearsals, had members of the U.S. Army Field band not only play FOR them but play WITH them, speak with them, mentor them. They were busy from morning wake up until evening bed-check. I missed her terribly, but knew that she was safe, in good hands and being well-taken care of where she was. We texted a bit when she had (some) downtime. I think she was sick and tired of hearing how proud of her I was.

My girl, second ginger pony-tailed girl from the left with the unzipped jacket. 

They had 4 full days to learn their drills and perfect their music. If you know anything about marching band, it takes nearly a full semester to perfect a halftime show. This band had 4 days. The band director told us parents that they initially blocked out 24 hours over the course of those 4 days for rehearsal. Then they cut it back to 23, then 22.5 and finally, they PERFECTED their show in 21 hours. THAT is nothing short of amazing. Everything about the week was amazing.

She's in the lower left part of the star, right around the 40 yard line. Can you see her?

And then it was Saturday and time for the game. We sat in our seats and watched the band march onto the field and play the National Anthem. Chills. We watched the game and when the band marched out onto the field for the halftime show, my youngest daughter Amanda found Jenn and pointed her out to me. I never took my eyes off of her from that point on. And I cried. And cried. I didn't WANT to cry, I wanted to watch the whole band perform. But I couldn't stop watching my daughter. Thank God the Army was filming it and we could watch the whole performance later at the wrap party. For me, there weren't 124 other band members out there. There was only one. She was awesome.

When I did watch the whole performance at the wrap party, I was blown away. The show was flawless. Visually perfect, musically stunning. Those kids, I can't say enough about them. The Army gave them the week of a lifetime. The staff from All-American Games arranged everything, the Army gave these kids the guidance, Jupiter, Mapex and Majestic provided the instruments, Adidas and DeMoulin provided every piece of clothing the kids wore including the band uniforms. NAfME made it all possible. The kids just brought their talent, their enthusiasm, their personalities and their joy and they shared it with 30,000 people that day in the Alamodome in San Antonio.

EDITED TO ADD THIS! If you want to see all the highlights from the week AND watch the actual video of their performance on Saturday go here for all the fun!

Humor is where you find it. I found it in San Antonio...

You can find the humor in any situation if you just look for it. Here are a few funny moments from my San Antonio trip. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

First, I was waiting in the lobby of my hotel for some friends to arrive, and I had the pleasure of listening to one side of a hilarious phone conversation. It seems the lady on my end of the conversation had forgotten her razor and was lamenting about it to the person on the other end of the line, "...and you KNOW how hairy I get!" No, lady, I don't know, nor do I WANT or NEED to know how hairy you get when you forget your razor. It's none of my business. Then the conversation took a very strange turn when hairy chick said "Oh, you're in jail? Oh that SUCKS! What are you in for this time?" She said it so matter of fact, as if she was asking her what time the next bus came. "Have you told your folks? Oh man, you must be SO SICK of jail by now!"  Yes, she really had that conversation.

I'm not sure if her friend had called her to shoot the shit or to bail her out but the fact that the chick on my end was discussing how hairy she gets when she forgets her razor made me cock my head to the side like a confused dog when they started discussing jail. Add this to the warehouse of things I'll never understand.

Next on this list is "selfie-kid". Let me explain. When we arrived at Dulles for Jenn's flight last Monday morning, we met up with a dozen or so other All-American Band members waiting at the gate. One young man in particular was very enthusiastic. His name is Mercer and he was an absolute joy! His excitement at his first time flying paired with his selection as a U.S. Army All-American made him exuberant and he was sharing that exuberance with everyone he met. As he was boarding the plane, he met this older gentleman who couldn't help but notice how excited Mercer was, and he engaged Mercer in conversation. In his excited state, Mercer asked the gentleman if he'd take a selfie with him, and the gentleman happily obliged.

Let's fast forward to Monday evening at dinner. The kids were all sitting at their tables listening to the various speakers when a 2-star General was introduced to speak. He started his speech by asking the kids to raise their hands if they flew in that morning from Dulles International Airport. The dozen or so kids raised their hands. Then the General asked if the young man who asked him to take a selfie would please stand up. That's right. The man who Mercer asked to take a selfie with was actually a 2-start General in the Army. Mercer actually got another selfie with the General and would continue to be referred to as "selfie-kid" for the remainder of the week. I got to see Mercer's pictures and they were fantastic!

One more thing that made me laugh might not be all that funny to you but it cracked me up. On the flight home, I sat on one side of the aisle and both my girls had window seats on the other side, one in row 11 and the other in row 12. During the course of the flight, Amanda nodded off and woke up several times. The last time she woke up, she said she felt ill and like she needed to throw up. She grabbed the barf bag from the seat-back in front of her, opened it, threw up into it, then sat there holding the bag. She looked over at me, still holding the bag and said "Now what?" If you've ever seen the movie Finding Nemo, it was exactly as Bloat said at the end when the fish from the dentist's office fish tank finally make it to the ocean. "Now what?" She no felt sick, she was wide up and perky. She just didn't know what to do with her puke. Thank you, United flight attendants.