legacy & nostalgia

nostalgia: i cannot explain what we all felt walking into this bathroom.

legacy: shearer and all her drum majors that made it out. sara, chrissy, kasey, mackenzie, brittany, sarah, me and joelle.

:: this past weekend my high school had its annual alumni football game. a new tradition. an even newer one for my high school band. as i pulled into the parking lot i saw the football players filter in for their pre-game warm-ups. wow! i was back in high school. i walked into the band room and was flooded with memories. old drum majors were there. the new ones were there too. everyone was bustling about. it was game night!

:: mrs. shearer, the greatest teacher i ever had started us out. we played through some old songs, taking lots of lip rests to "introduce" everyone and where we were at in life. we caught up over dinner in the cafeteria, which more than 12 years later still smells exactly the same as it did the first day i experienced lunch time stress at a new school.

:: Warner Christian Academy is still Warner Christian Academy. not a thing has changed. there are still the same established cliques. i saw girls from the group i longed to be in. thank goodness i never made the cut. i am thankful i spent the majority of my time in the band room with "the band kids." we were a family...with a legacy.

:: being in that band room with so many years of students brought back precious memories. that was the place i cried [and laughed] so many times. i learned to play my first scale in that room as a 9-yr-old who couldn't sit still. i went from 1st chair to 7th one year, learning a hard lesson of humility and hard work. i learned to lead a group and speak words of encouragement when i had not an ounce of confidence in myself. i was rebuked and encouraged in that room. so many lessons! and for one night i was back with the people who made it happen. all of us [well not all] together again under the leadership of our dearly loved mrs. shearer. a woman so incredible i can't put into words. we were the first students to see her engagement ring...we saw her though adoptions that fell through and other heart-breaking news. yet every single day she showed up. the lessons i learned were because she was consistent and passionate about what she did. sure, there were days when she wanted to throw the towel in. but did we know that? not a bit!

:: she now has a beautiful daughter, kiera, and so is the founder of a legacy so deep few things are comparable. the foundation my faith was established with her and while i was frustrated with her relentless demands of excellence or tired of being tantalized by other students and wanted to quit at times i am glad i never did.