Sharing Life’s Lessons
The calendar marks the change of seasons in March, June, September, and December. Many consider Memorial Day the “unofficial” start of summer and Labor Day the “unofficial” start of fall. Blueberry Festival could be considered the end of summer or the start of fall. In Indiana and Illinois, kids have been in school for almost a month. In Michigan and Wisconsin school started the day after Labor Day. (I only know about these states because they are the ones I have grandchildren in.)
Our Blueberry Festival experience was limited to watching our great nephew sing a solo during the performance of Lincoln Legends on Saturday morning on the Jefferson stage. I was so proud of him and the others that sang solos. You couldn’t have paid me a million bucks to do something like that at their age. (Of course, no one would ever pay me to sing!) The entire group was very good. We shared an elephant ear and called it a day at the festival. I could have wandered through the craft tents but would have been tempted to purchase things I don’t need at this stage of life. I’ve been told I should be downsizing.
We went to the parade to watch our grandson marching in the Pride of Plymouth band. Although seven of our grandchildren before him have tried instruments in middle school, he is the first one to keep playing in high school. I enjoy watching the bands and critiquing their lines. The phrase “guide right” yelled by my rank leader echoes through my brain these many years later. Kenny is proud of our grandkids and all they do, but he admits his knowledge of music growing up consisted of “the left knob controls the volume and the right knob tunes in the station”.
When our boys were in band, Kenny was Music Booster President a couple years. Thankfully, his biggest responsibility was conducting meetings of volunteer parents and raising funds. During his tenure the first trailer was purchased for hauling equipment to contests. He and the vice president volunteered to paint a music staff on the side of the trailer. They projected a sheet of music onto the side of the trailer and would simply paint what they saw. However, the music was too long for the trailer, so they decided to fold it in one place to shorten it. Both being willing volunteers but musically illiterate, they didn’t realize that they would have two measures that did not have the correct number of beats in them. Thankfully I was able to stop them before they had a trailer traveling with the band that had anyone that knew music cringing or laughing!
We finished off the holiday weekend with BBQ and pool time. One of our son’s friends from high school, who spent a lot of time at our house those years ago, has moved back to this area with his wife and two sons. It was a fun day getting to know his family and welcoming them from California to Indiana. I think it’s important to help his wife fall in love with Indiana before the snow hits. We enjoyed the day with some of our family and theirs.
Kenny says the winter pool cover will go on soon. That’s what I consider the “unofficial” beginning of fall. The leaves aren’t turning yet, but the acorns are starting to drop. I heard a strange noise one morning last week, so I walked out onto the deck. Acorns were hitting the metal roof of the house and pieces of acorn were raining down on our hot tub. I couldn’t see the squirrel in the tree, but he was hard at work.