Saturday, January 23, 2010

Guard Season Crankin' Up Again


Just got home from Massey's first Winter Guard competition. My sister went with me and we left for Harrison High School with about "NO" minutes to spare. The school is 60 miles away and Massey's performance was at 6:34. We left Newnan at 5:20 and screeched onto the Interstate praying that traffic was light and the directions were right!
Of course Massey had called me about thirty minutes before making sure I had left in plenty of time to get there (Yeah...RIGHT)
I'll have to hand it to Google..the directions were perfect (sometimes they are WAY off the mark.)
As we approached the last mile of the journey we had ten minutes til she took the floor in competition. As I shot my car into the parking lot of the school it was was packed so I jumped out at the front door and left my sister to park the car and meet me inside.
I got into the gym as the girls were rolling out their tarp to perform on...no sign of my sister yet and scrambled to the far end of the packed gym to get a seat.
When a group performs the doors are shut to the gym and no one can enter or leave til the performance is over. As the gym doors were swinging shut my sister slid through sideways and made it in!
The above picture is of them right before they started their performance (one minute after I ran through the gym doors.)
Two tickets for a four minute performance $16.... Gas for the ride there and back $15....Smile on my daughter's face when she knew not only her Mom but her Aunt were there to see her..PRICELESS.
I seem to have God in my corner every time I race to one of these events. Like an idiot I never leave with any time to spare and told my sister I haven't seen Massey perform once without still sweating from the race from my car to the arena and haven't caught my breath until her performance is over.
After they performed I met back up with my sister who had slipped in under the wire at the other end of the gym and we went to wait on Massey to change and come back .
We stayed to watch about about six or seven other groups perform surrounded by Massey and her guard team on the less crowded visitors side of the gym. When the first group started to perform my sister was whispering something in my ear and Massey immediately said "Mama...shh."
There is a strict unwritten rule that you give every guard team the respect and attention you would give your own (Guess I missed that one in the handbook.)
After that my sister and I behaved properly and had a really good time sitting with Massey's team in the stands watching the others perform.
It is a great group she is a part of and the friendship and camaraderie always makes me smile. To see teens having not only a good time together but respecting other teams and bonding with other guards as well makes me happy that she has chosen this group to join.
On the way home...thank goodness we weren't under 'time' pressure...a girl in the car in front of us on Cobb Parkway (a really busy highway) not only had her interior light on but was applying mascara as she drove in the fog and drizzle. She probably had a blue tooth too and was chatting as she drove and applied her make up on a busy road in the dark and the rain.
She obviously was more of a professional driver than me...she made the turn onto the highway and I missed it..stinkin young kids think they are SO smart...hey... maybe they are!
Next competition is in two weeks in Tennessee. I had better leave REALLY early for that one!!
Til next time Cruising COTTON

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