This was the weather forecast on my phone when I got up yesterday morning and prepared for my last first game of the season. I kinda chuckled to myself as I thought about my very FIRST First game with the CCSU MB.....It was CCSU vs Leheigh Valley, and I was stoked because Leheigh Valley's MB was also coming with the team and would be performing their halftime show post game. It was a little rainy on and off throughout the game and afterwards when we went down to the field to watch and cheer them on, the sky opened up in the middle of their performance and we were soaked. We then did our performance in the pouring rain and it was wonderful!..... I almost felt it would be fitting that my first and last first game ( that's a lot of firsts) would involve some rain. Anyway, on to rehearsal.
It was ridiculously warm and toasty outside. Almost as soon as i left my car for the Arute field parking lot I was dripping with sweat. This was definitely gonna be a day when peer leadership was gonna be hard to keep on top of. Though, the fact that Dr. Reynolds, who is almost 9 months pregnant, was there with a smile on her face and a good attitude definitely helped to put things in perspective. An hour long music rehearsal on the blacktop was certainly hot, but it worked out. When we hit the field and got to working drill, running back, working drill, running back, etc... it seemed to grow increasingly warm as the promised stormy weather provided little cloud cover and we were roasting in the sun. I was trying to be positive, but there were a few times I definitely glanced at my watch and cringed inwardly at how slowly time was moving. About 3 hours into rehearsal we finally got some clouds and it was awesome! Then it happened. We heard the thunder and the School's lightening alert system went off ( when the lightening alert goes off, the stands and fields must be evacuated for 30 minutes. With every new lightening strike, the clock starts again) We tried to quickly finish our final sets, but were evacuated from the field and shuffled into the Kaiser Gym bubble. While making our way there the sky opened up and well, let's just say the cold showers we were hoping for on the field were covered. My friend Rachel and I ( who have made it a strange life goal to make MB rain storms fun) Started hooting and dancing our way to the bubble. I mean, yea it was raining, yeah we had gotten evacuated from the field, but it was cloudy and it was cool and it was wonderful.
While we sat in the bubble waiting, sure, there were people who were praying for a cancelled game so they could go home, but there was definitely a group of us who were like "Hell no! We just spent 3 hours preparing for this game, got evacuated, got rained on, and it's our first game of the season. There better be a game!" Well, there was. We made our way back to the band room, ate, and got into our uniforms. Woodwinds carrying instruments in cases to protect them from possible downpour, and then carrying the beloved rain parka.
In the stands, the clouds gathered and we still hoped for a halftime show. We warmed up and got set up on the sideline waiting to set page 0. Still no rain. We ran our entire performance, the dance team did their number and before we had even exited the field the lightening detector went off again. Deja Vu. Quickly and calmly head to the stands, get your cases, parkas, etc, and head back to the bubble. This time, we didn't get drowned as we walked over thankfully, but there was definitely lightening. The sousaphones weren't really feeling the excitement as they realized they were walking lightening rods, but everyone made it safely inside. We ended up leaving after halftime, so we never made it to playing "Feels Like Home" but we got our First halftime performance done. We made it. It was one hell of a final first game.
"Let's Go Central! Let's Go!"
My wonderful Clarinet section! I <3 them all! These four are making my last season special for sure!
Waiting inside the bubble for the call to go home or get back to the stands
This band is awesome. The attitudes were awesome, the professionalism was awesome. Through a sweltering rehearsal and 2 evacuations people were still joking around, laughing, smiling, helping each other out and just being all of my favorite things about the CCSU Blue Devil MB. I cannot even express how blessed I am to be a part of this band, and how blessed I am to have this wonderful group of people be the group that I spend my last season with.
Go Blue!
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