Amazing Adventures

My son embarked on a huge adventure yesterday...he is learning to play tuba!  This is an exciting time for him and it was amazing to witness his pure excitement when he walked through the front door asking (almost demanding) if I would like to hear him play his instrument. He unzipped the hugeamongous case with care, plugged in the clear blue plastic mouthpiece I got him, and made some noise.  He felt cool and his energy forced me into a smile that I haven't got rid of yet.

This scenario reminded me of two things: The Music Man and The Barstow Posse.


Many of you have heard of The Music Man and can recall the closing scene at the high school when one of the moms yells out--Barney! That's my Barney!--while the so-called band makes some serious non-musical music. I can so way see myself yelling out at the Summer Band concert at the end of these three weeks, except if I do, I think my boy might disown me.

And this brings me to The Barstow Posse...
I cannot recall who coined the name, but it all started on high school choir trips--or it could have been band trips (I did some of both). We used to drive through Barstow, California to get to Disneyland performances and competitions in Northern California and the group I hung with adopted this name. I used to have some photographs, but don't know where they walked off to. There were a couple of really great friends of mine that I KNOW were members: Remel, one of my best guy friends in high school and Andrew Concoby, a boy I subconsciously crushed on until we finally went on a date and kissed after we were graduated from high school. I think he knew about the crush before I did because he picked on me to beat the band. He was such a romantic little flirt. May he rest in peace.

We had the best of times driving across the dreary desert highways, laughing, singing, talking, and other stuff teenagers do while hanging around on a bus for 6-10 hours depending on the destination.

I hope this beginning band experience is the start of the most amazing adventures middle school and high school have to offer.