My son played his last half-time show with the school marching band last night. Before the game we brought over to the band room a fat envelope from Georgia Tech. The contents of the letter weren’t much in doubt because the words “Congratulations! You’re a Yellow Jacket!” were emblazoned across the front.
After his victorious scream, he said to me “Now I have a safety school.” He does that just to tweak me, but I take it in stride. There are worse places he could go. The timing of the acceptance sharpened the sense of finality as his four years in the marching band and my career as a band parent end. The game was played in cold drizzle, but we proudly walked him to mid-field for the Senior Night recognition. Tomorrow we have to report to the school by five a.m. to head to Allentown for the final competition of the year.
And then the rest of the year is all endgame. As parents of an only child, every milestone is a first and a last. We won’t be going to ChainBarAndGrille after a high school football game ever again. I play it cool as we plan where to hang the HDTV in his room when he leaves, but we are going to miss him.
He’s already making the transition from high school to higher pursuits. Every year the band plays a prank on the band director. This year, they hid all the band trophies and replaced them with the ubiquitous gimme seat cushions the band keeps getting. The posted a picture of my son in his school color duct tape sports coat blaming him. He wasn’t there to defend himself because he was out giving a report on the carbon nanotube research he is interning for. There’s a metaphor there that I just can’t make through my tears.
11 comments:
Congratulations to your son! After 4 years of being a band parent, going to games and supporting the band, what will you do with yourself now???
Good luck to him in the new school and with his research! Michele says hi.
Congratulations! It is one great moment for you all. May you have more of those moments.
Michele sent me here to share your happiness!
It's bittersweet, this parenting thing. I get all misty looking at baby pictures already and my daughter is only THREE AND A HALF.
Congrats! I remember my first college decision letter -- a rejection, from MIT. It would have been nice to get a "yes" first, though in retrospect I would have been so miserable at MIT as to defy comprehension.
Say, you know what's a great way to celebrate a boy's transition to manhood? Take him to a wacky variety show that features some border-of-PG-13-and-R naughtiness! And also: MARK TRAIL THEATER! Fortunately, just such a show is happening in Baltimore tonight!
Congratulations to your son!! How exciting!
New frontiers my friend. Congratulations to both of you.
Very nice, congrats to your son! It's fun having you guys a year ahead of us so I can see what to expect. Keep the updates coming!
I don't know which of you I'm happier for, yello.
Er, probably your son. You have to live with yourself, while he gets to go off and become someone else.
While you pay his bills.
bc
PS. Seriously, congrats to both of you.
Congratulations!
Congrats to your son! It's nice to be wanted, even if it's only Georgia Tech. :-)
mooselet, maybe you don't know this, but Georgia Tech is the 7th ranked public school in the nation by US News.
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