This past weekend I went back to UW-Madison for the annual UW band alumni football game. The game was fun – we beat Akron 38 to 17 (or something like that). I figured I’d been out for two years and it was the last time I would still know people in the band. My freshmen were all seniors now, imagine that! I love going back and visiting the band because it reminds me of how much fun I had, how hard it was physically and emotionally, and it also reminds me of how lucky I am now that I no longer have to deal with blackened toes, bleeding blisters, and sore hip flexors and calf muscles on a daily basis. Whew!
As one alum summed it up, “we’re all young at heart, but old in the knees!” True that. And thanks to Sabrina’s trumpet roommate who pointed out, “you’re older than Sabrina? So you’re like double old!” And only getting older, buddy! That’s me, Sabrina, and Carlos in the picture. Two other clarinets from my day were also there. There was also an old man with a piccolo. There are no flutes or piccolos in the UW band and I don’t think there ever have been. No one could really explain that one to me. Oh well. On Wis!