Growing Up Pageantry

[Joe Flynn]

Yesterday in my mind's eye, I saw a group of kids. They were about 14 years old and it was the summer before their first year of high school. They were standing in a band room nervous and curious. They were waiting for something that they thought would give them an avenue to new friends and involvement in a school activity. They knew they would never make a sports team and they weren't cheerleader material. Some of them were overweight. Some of them struggled with popularity, because they were shy or different. They made good grades and many were considered geeks. Many of them were bullied in middle school. They stood in this band room as an incoming class of freshmen holding their flute and trumpet cases. Some of them were holding a flag pole for the first time in their entire lives wondering what this "thing" was and some for the first time were about to hit a drum with a pair of sticks. On this special day, their lives were about to change because on this day, they would start their very first marching band practice. On this day, they would start a journey that would lead them down a path where they would meet the people they would spend countless hours with, as well as share their laughter and their tears. On this day they would begin to live a life many can only dream of and this journey will be called...community.

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