Throwback Thursday

With this being the middle of marching band season I have been thinking a lot about my time spinning the flag. The thing that pops up the most would be Anita.

 

She was our band booster president for a year.  Her introduction to the band program was with a parent who had been involved for three years.  She was quiet, and never in the way. Most of the time we didn't realize she was there until we went on our band trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

(You have got to go there!!!)

She was our chaperone and we had a great time. That was when she became our President.  She told us about her twin daughters, one of which was going to join color guard that fall. (The other was in orchestra and Tami and her were friends.)

 

And she did. Judy Payne was very shy at first, but once she opened up, you could not get her to shut up! She fit in very well and I loved being around her! She became one of my best friends. One of her favorite past times was tormenting our family cat. She even named it (DC, just like that Disney movie, except she called him something else!)

 

Anita continued to serve as president the rest of the year, with a big trip to California planned that summer.

We went to Knots Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and then Disneyland. We were headed to San Diego and Sea World the next day. Anita had been sick on our trip and stayed back at the hotel for our second day. Before we left, though, she put her arms around me and told me how grateful she was that I was Judy's friend and that I was a good influence on her (Jude was a kind of a wild child!) and then she told me that she loved me. She held on and we both cried.

At Disney, our third day, we had the best time. We were supposed to meet up at noon somewhere on main street but a small group of us were almost through the new Captain EO movie line so we decided to stay. We had been there for half an hour already. Our chaperone (my mom) would be a bit cross but would forgive us after we bought her a treat. When we finally reached main street, the whole band was waiting for us. The band director took Judy and Jane, her twin, away and we needed to go sit down with everyone else.

We were in big trouble.

The band instructor came in and told us Anita had died and the girls were going to be with their family. We were all dumbfounded, not sure what to do. After visiting for about 10 minutes, we were sent on our way to enjoy the rest of the park.

 Like that could actually happen.

We were quite a sight. Standing in line at the happiest place on earth, with red swollen eyes, runny noses, and talking about death.

We were the envy of every other school there!

But we did decide that Anita wanted us to have fun. And if we didn't we would be dishonoring her memory

. So we tried to enjoy the rest of the day. And the rest of the trip for that matter. We didn't see the girls till be got back

The band performed at her funeral. It was beautiful. There were more wrong keys and mistakes, but that was only because people were crying while trying to play. It was beautiful!

 

We later found out Anita knew she was dying and she wanted to spend the last of her time with us, enjoying our youth and enthusiasm for life. I think I understand what she felt. I love being around our kids for the same reason!

 

 

 

 

Judy and Jane coming for a visit from Utah after we moved to Arizona.