Aaron reported that while I was at work today, Paul from my senior corps called and wanted to know if I could give him a ride to the parade tomorrow morning. I had been going to double-check the timeframe, anyway, so I looked at the Lakeshoremen schedule to see when the parade started and when the brass line was meeting to warm up.
OMG. I have to leave the house at 6:15am.
Arrive at Paul’s house at 7:30am; arrive at the carpool location at 7:45am, warm up at 8am, parade starts at 9am. Lunch at Russ and Barb’s house (the aforementioned carpool location) after the parade… and the party will continue into the evening and night, as those of us from faraway lands (Toledo and northern-mid-Michigan) prepare to stay the night at the Braman household.
For Sunday morning’s parade begins at sunrise.
Well, OK, sunrise is at 6:03am (according to the Weather Channel) and warmups start at 6:30am, so I guess it’s not really at sunrise. We’ll have to be up and ready to head off to the parade staging area in Plymouth before that, though. Of course, this is all assuming that it doesn’t rain on our parade—literally.
I think it might be different if the Toledo Glassmen had a senior corps being funded out of their organization; then I could do parades in, say, Maumee or Toledo or Perrysburg or BG, or even Lima or Wauseon wouldn’t be horrible. I enjoy being in the corps and marching again, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I don’t enjoy trading off for the only potential quality time I have with my husband in order to do it.
Maybe once we field a show and the returns feel more “worth it,” it’ll even out. Maybe fielding a show will push me over the edge and make me not want to do it anymore—after all, most “real” DCA (Drum Corps Associates; senior corps) shows are in New England. That’s a bit of a haul for everybody, not just Yours Truly.
Anywho, I’m going to go play some Civ III and wait for Paul to return my confirmation I’m-giving-you-a-ride call. —Er, check that. Just got a 30-second call from Paul. I guess he’s going to leave his wife the car so she can attend the post-parade party for a while, too. I wonder if that means he’ll a.) be going home with his wife, or b.) be staying the night at the Bramans’ with us out-of-towners. I guess we’ll see…
I’m still gonna go play some Civ III, though. 😛