Love That ECHS Guard...It's Worth Every Penny I Owe

I think that this is the sweetest picture I have ever seen. This is my girl and her guard reciting the Lords prayer.

As crusty as I act and as butch as I look I am really just a softy when it comes to things like this. No wonder this team has gone as far as it has.

I just can't say enough good things about this money pit my daughter has sucked me into. When she first started Guard and I found out how much it cost I thought maybe Massey was kidding. I thought to myself that it was a total waste of money (and that was back when we HAD money.)

It has opened my old eyes in so many ways that I have a hard time thinking where to start.

Number one I had my reservations when Massey started high school. Thousands of kids going to ONE school couldn't POSSIBLY be a GOOD thing...not in the eyes of a mother of a 14 year old daughter.

Fortunately she fell right into the RIGHT crowd. A great band program with a great band director and assistant and a guard coach that my husband has labeled "Napoleon."

He's a bit taller than me but give him a double breasted gold buttoned jacket and stuff one of his hands inside the coat and there you have him.

He's eight feet tall to these kids, they hate him sometimes and they respect him all the time. In teenage speak, that means he's doing his job. He pushes them like I wish I could and get the same results.

He doesn't pick favorites...he picks on them all.

When they don't do well he is the first one to tell them and the only person they hear at that given moment in time.

When they do well he praises them (with comments about how they can do even better.)

The parents in this organization are amazing...I really mean that.

I try to help, I really do. I have so much on my plate that it is overwhelming at most every moment of every day but I think they have come to like me...at least I hope they have.

So many guard moms have done so much for my daughter, picking her up for practice when I am at work and bringing her home again before I get off.

I have come to realize that this is one of the greatest things that has ever happened in my girl's short life. She is part of a group that supports their own...and promotes not only camaraderie but commitment and dedication. She is a part of a group that has parents ranging from hippies to preppies. (I think I fall more into the hippie group.)

The thing is they are all there to support their kid and every other kid that is on that guard.

Massey seems concerned of late as to how much this is costing me.

To see your kid succeeding...to see them a part of a wonderful network of teachers, parents and volunteers and to see them win first place time after time is one of the few highlights I have left. I don't care how long it takes me to pay off dues, I don't care how many more days in a row I have to work.

All I care about is having her have this awesome opportunity to be in one of the greatest programs I have ever seen for a kid. A world filled with care, concern and the motivation to be better.

I know she is a better person for being a part of this group. I know that I am a better parent for letting her join this wonderful group of uplifting...sometimes demanding and always rewarding team of young humans that have actually given me some of the biggest smiles of my recent life.

A group that loves, sometimes regrets and sometimes fights but ALWAYS comes together for the common goal.

Isn't that what life is really ABOUT?