And the Band Played On...

It's June! And that means it's summer band season here. Our town band rehearses on Monday nights and performs on Tuesday nights every week in June and the first couple of weeks in July. The first summer we lived here, the Professor & I didn't quite get into the swing of things band-wise, though we did think it would be fun. I think we started playing the year after that (2005? maybe? man my memory is bad!), and while we're definitely aware that the group isn't winning any awards anywhere, it is fun to play again.

Last year the presence of our darling M meant we had to renegotiate the rehearsals & concerts. I think (bad memory again) we did a combo of taking turns playing from week to week and finding a sitter for the concerts so we could both play. Not really sure though. So this year we once again will have to do something similar.

This was the first week of our "season", and the Professor very kindly agreed to watch the girls while I went to rehearsal on Monday night. It was really nice to get some time out on my own and to do something different from my day-to-day stuff. But the Professor didn't have such a good time. M cooperated pretty well and went to bed without to much trouble, but miss A didn't want to play along. She apparently felt like staying awake for pretty much the whole time I was gone, which wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the nearly inconsolable crying. I don't think it was like that the whole time (he'll have to jump in and tell the story himself to get the true facts), but he wasn't very happy when I got home.

So for the concert last night, we weren't sure whether to take the girls or not. It's outdoors, which helps, since there can be walking around when/if they get fussy. So we gave it a shot. It went OK overall, but A got upset part way through and let us all know it. Thus the title - she's definitely got a good set of lungs on her, but it didn't really impact the band much at all. I can't speak for the audience, or the Professor, but I don't think it bothered the musicians that much. It helped that most of them are parents or grandparents themselves I suspect.

For me, the hardest part was not being able to help in any way. I didn't like watching my baby cry from afar - even though she was in good hands, and I didn't like watching the Prof trying to balance the needs of both girls without being able to jump in and help. He's very capable and did a great job; I just didn't like feeling so powerless to help.

Anyway, this took forever to say band is back! And we're still figuring out how handle having two - I'm going to go out on a limb and say it will take a while (the rest of our lives?) to get that sorted out.

Oh - and I'm trying to convince the Prof that he gets to play next week. He might get to play a "bright rock" version of Lassus Trombone, and I couldn't deprive him of that...