Marching Band Season, Years 2018-2019

Hello everyone! I hope that you have all had a great summer, but let me tell you about my summer.

Marching Band season starts off with two days of Spring Marching Band Training. Each day consists of three hours of training, normally from 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. After Spring Training, all members in the Marching Band are expected to keep their bodies healthy, and in shape until Marching Band Camp. Marching Band Camp consists of eleven hours of training, 5-7 days a week. Band Camp is normally the second to last week of July. We spend the first five to six hours outside learning the show, then we go inside for lunch. After lunch we learn the music for the show, then it's snack time! After snacks we like to show what we've learned, go back outside for more marching practice, or continue working on memorizing out music. I think the best part of Band Camp is when we go inside, because everyone takes off their shoes and it's more comfortable to let your feet breathe instead of keeping them in your shoes all day long. After Band Camp we have about a week and a half until school starts up again.

On the last day of Spring Training my band director asked me to switch to the mellophone. A mellophone is a marching French horn.He asked me to try to teach myself the instrument over summer, but between traveling in between houses every week and babysitting I haven't gotten the chance. I also have been in Ohio for the past two weeks, I was supposed to go back to Georgia today but it turns out that I will be in Ohio for another week. Which means that I will have maybe two weeks to learn every note and technique for a new instrument by myself. I know that I won't be able to do that because I have never played a brass instrument before. So, I decided to email my band director last night. I explained to him why I don't think that I will be able to play the mellophone, and I asked him if I could switch back to the clarinet. He replied this morning and told me that he will have someone to help me at Band Camp, and he asked that i wait until then to make any decisions.

Other than Marching Band my life is very hard. I have to spend the first half of every week at my mom's house, babysitting her friends son, and my little brother. While I am there I also have to watch over all three of the dogs. Then, I spend the second half of the week at my dads house. While I am there, I have to babysit my brother until my dad gets home. Over the summer my dad gets off work early so he can take my brother and I to the pool. Sadly, there is a woman that shows up with her kids. My dad claims that he is "just friends" with this woman, but he spends his time at the pool with her and her kids instead of spending it with his kids. Seeing him do that only makes me even more depressed than I already was.

While I have been in Ohio, I have been staying with my oldest sister and her husband. They have been trying to make the best of my stay with them. They have also been planning A LOT of surprises. However, surprises make me VERY anxious, but I try not to show it because I know they enjoy giving me and my little brother surprises. I know that we only get to see each other a few times a year, so I don't want to be a burden because of my anxiety and depression.