Memorials

I have only attended four memorials/funerals so far in my life. The first one was for a coworker when I worked for Choice Hotels, International. He died unexpectedly, and his memorial service was in a funeral home. There were so many people attending, we all sat in different rooms and the service was piped in over the loud speakers. To say it was weird is an understatement.

Then one of my good friend's Dad passed away with a massive heart attack. He was sitting watching TV one minute, and gone the next. We accompanied them with their family to the Outer Banks of North Carolina where they were going to put his ashes in the Sound. They had a disposable urn, and dropped it in the water near a pier. The next day they went back just to see, and the urn was still there. Obviously the "disposable" urn was having issues dissolving in water. My friend had to use a stick to break it up a little.

And then my grandfather died, and I attended his funeral. My grandparents owned a dairy farm for many years, and during the funeral, my brother and I had random people who had worked on the farm come up to us and tell us they remembered us when we were little. I didn't remember any of them.

Lastly, my Stepmom's Mother passed away. I spent that funeral in the hallway as Ashley was just a baby and would not stay quiet for the service.

Today will be a first as I am playing with the community band I play bassoon for in a memorial service for a fellow band member. She passed away from cancer way too soon. And she loved band. She played flute, was always enthusiastic, helped out when we needed help. We are playing one of her favorite songs - Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Friday Pictures - Shoes and what I do on Thursday nights...

I admit it. I have a shoe problem. And it's not for me, it's for my kids. I love getting shoes for the girls. They have church shoes, tennis shoes, multiple pairs of crocs (which they are discouraged from wearing to school anymore), and play shoes. I am thinking I need to get some boots for them, although it doesn't snow here...

Anyways, I bought Audrey's newest pair of shoes from Kohl's for $14.99...what a deal!

Aren't they cute? (and yes, I mean the shoes and the people)

Buy me more shoes!
Check out my new shoooooossssss.
Ashley had to get in on the fun...she is showing off her socks. That black thing? It's really Minnie Mouse's head...

The next pictures are going to showcase what I do for an hour and a half on Thursday nights...just in case anyone out there was curious...My town built a brand new cultural center a little over a year ago. Yes, my little town outside of Raleigh has a cultural center. It's really kind of cool, it has a library, rooms for classes, a coffee bar, and a 200 person auditorium. That auditorium is where we practice and play. The town provides us with chairs and stands.

Gathering before practice. That person in the red on the right is my good friend Heather. She comes to my house and eats dinner with us prior to practice every Thursday. And she got to see the wrath of grumpy Ashley last night. I think I scared her from having more children.

I sit next to these clowns. Seriously, they were laughing so hard at one point last night they were crying. Or maybe they were crying because they miss Martha?

Our low brass, the trombones and tuba guy. Oh, and the end of my bassoon. There are normally a few baritones, but they didn't show up tonight. I think they knew I was going to bring my camera.

My view, and our very nice, very good band director. The seats normally don't look like that, they are pushed up against the wall.

And this is what I play.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...well, it has for a while for us since we have been practicing Christmas music since September. This piece we are actually playing along with a children's choir.

Band Drama!

As most of you know, I play bassoon in my town's community concert band. And a ton of crap has been happening lately, which I find totally interesting, but some of you may want to skip this snooze fest...

The original band director had some issues. He wouldn't listen to us as a band, chose music I hated (as well as most others), and made mistakes in concerts. Was he getting paid? Absolutely not. Do I make mistakes in concerts? Absolutely. The difference was he wouldn't take constructive critism, not from the band members or the board.

I was at one time the fundraising chair person. I pretty much quit because no matter how much work I put into it, it wasn't enough. This guy expected a full time job to be done by me, and here I am thankful I found a band that only practiced for two hours once a week. I was doing this because I loved it....

The Board members all had issues with him, and approached him on several occasions. Then I guess they finally had enough after myself and my good friend Heather said we were going to go try out another band (although the only other band Heather and I found looked like we would be the youngest members by a good 30 years...). Their plan was to meet with the band director and convince him to step down. And they wanted me present for this.

Of which I was not. I knew this was going to turn ugly and I do not like confrontations. I don't do well with them. I mostly just cry. Ask Ray about the time he tried to buy a car with me and started getting loud with the sales guy....me crying actually helped...anyways...

So the band director stepped down. And now we have this cool new woman director who rocks. And all is good in band geekdom.