Chris leaves on May 22 for a truly exciting adventure. He has been accepted into The Blue Stars which is a touring performing drum and bugle corps. Well, I'm not sure that's what they call them, because they have several sections, i.e. percussion, trumpet, tuba, and a color guard. They put on shows for the public and are precision marchers and jazzy performers. No Sousa for them! Chris is just about the youngest musician who has ever made the cut. Most of the members are college age. He had to get special permission from the school board as well as his principal to leave school three weeks ahead of time. He had to take all his exams early.
Oh, yes, he plays several instruments including piano, but I think his favorite is the trumpet (marching band) and mellophone (orchestra). His goal is to go to a college that emphasizes music, and I think he's thinking Julliard and Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. He is a musical whiz. I knew he would be when I took him and his sister to the Hands On Museum in Johnson City, and he went up to the old upright piano they had and instead of pounding on the keys like all children I've ever known, he put his little fingers into the exact proper positions on the keys and moved them from left to right. I know he had a little tune going in his head right then!
We are very proud of him, needless to say. And his sister is no small shakes at music either. She played the French horn and the flute and became the drum major her Senior year (I always thought that position was a baton twirler, which it was in my outback high school, but
in the big city schools (like Lynchburg, ahem) the drum major is the band's conductor. She could have majored in music and dance in college, but just didn't want to. She is still searching for her passion, and I have all the faith that it will be all that much sweeter for her when she finds it!
On this trip we worked while we visited. Jessica and I went to the grocery store and she pushed me in a wheel chair so I could manage the oxygen and the cane. (It's kind of like walking and chewing gum--takes coordination.) I've had some carpal tunnel syndrome or arthritis (take your pick) in my right arm which makes it difficult for me to get things down off shelves. Then she and Chris put the groceries away and made sandwiches for lunch. She hung some curtains for me that I had taken down and washed from the bedroom we've been re-doing. Chris used the leaf blower to blow off the family room decks, took out all the trash and garbage, put some books and knick-knacks back on the shelves, and shoes back into the closet, and then hung some windchimes I've been collecting into my windchime tree.
Then they left, back home to Lynchburg and their lives. We have not had quantities of time with them as they've grown up, as is often the case with divorced families, but we have always had quality time. Chris' Blue Stars group will be holding a performance in Kingsport on July 7, so I hope we'll be able to go to that. I especially hope so for Rocky's sake, as he continues to struggle with his condition.
