From today's Briefing:
A sign of parental growth: You
watch a performance or a game without nonstop laser focus on your own child.
If you’ve achieved this feat with
100 percent accuracy, I congratulate you. Perhaps you can share your secret
with the rest of us. I’ve been parenting for more than 16 years, and it’s a
skill I’m still working toward.
Soccer games, musicals, band
concerts. It’s all the same. Yes, I’m happy that my child is part of a group,
and yes, isn’t it great they’re all working together so well, but where can I sit
to get the best photo and/or video of my child?
For the first two years of
Cooper’s marching band career, I knew on precisely which yard-line he would
begin and end each movement of the show. After watching so many rehearsals,
halftimes and competitions, I could easily discern if he was in synch with his
line or if there was a tiny misstep.
What were all the other kids
doing? I was a little fuzzy on the details.
This year has been different. I
know that Cooper begins the show way in the back, just in front of a
sousaphone. (He’s the tallest kid out there, so he’s easy to find.) I know that
at some point he and his clarinet end up on the opposite side of the field, in
front. There’s a whole lot of marching and playing in between, but I don’t
track his every move.
Instead, I’ve been focused on the
big picture and details not necessarily related to my child.
I’m listening more purposefully
to the music. I’m mesmerized by the color guard flags. I watch with fascination
as the whole group of about 120 teenagers creates precise images on the field.
This year I’m a bigger fan of the
whole band.
And, oh, these kids have earned
their fan base. They give up a month of summer break to prep for the fall. They
practice together eight hours a week outside of school hours, arriving by 6:45
a.m. most weekdays and staying until 7 or 8:30 p.m. one night a week. (There
always seems to be a bigger pile of homework on late practice nights.)
They provide the soundtrack to
football games. They entertain at halftime. They spend most Saturdays in
October in a stadium far from home, prepping and waiting to compete – and then
waiting to hear contest results.
Every one of those kids deserves
admiration – not only for their individual contributions but for their
willingness and ability to work as a cohesive unit.
Today as I’m
watching our band perform at the UIL area marching competition, I’ll check for
Cooper in the back, smile and wave in his direction (though he’ll have no idea
where I am) and settle in for the big show.
I’ll watch for Brian and Madison,
Jonathan and Sruthi, Ethan and Jill, Kenneth and Malini. I’ll take a couple of
photos of the whole field, not bothering to zoom in on Cooper or anyone else. This
is a team effort, and I’m rooting for the whole team, including but not limited
to my own child.
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