A Year With You's Been Worth It
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 10:26PM One year ago today, I wrote this, and my life changed. It changed a lot. And it hurt while it changed-- also a lot. Like all major remodellings, this business of knocking down interior walls and restructuring the roof was necessary to rebuild, to expand.
After standing beneath the seats of Block O for the third quarter of the OSU-Wisconsin game instead of prowling the sidelines by the Band as planned, listening to the thudding echo of the percussion, feeling the concrete heave, and watching the metal brackets bend, I am more apt to learn from the moment I'm experiencing instead of fretting over where I "should" be.
After watching a fifty-seven year old haul a mellophone up and down the hashmarks of a football field with people younger than her grandchildren, I am rethinking what my later years will be like. They will be stompy.
After hearing a horn player shout my name from across the field just to administer a hello wave, I am reconsidering what the bullies who made my grade school years hell really knew, if they ever knew anything.
After seeing a nineteen year old's entire body heave with sobs after he was cut from the Band, I am grateful I'm not nineteen anymore.
After pouring a single glass of wine in four mintues into an empty digestive system, I am not doing that anymore.
After watching a twenty-one year old Drum Major who had been training for the position half his life walk quietly off the field at the end of his term, I am reconsidering my knowledge of heartbreak.
After watching women smaller, shorter, and slighter than I am chairstep in perfect time with their male counterparts, I am proud to have a uterus.
After a year of their rituals, their sorrows, their surprises, their anger, their support, their secrets, and their music, I am... fuller.
And I am going to to my best to give them the words their lyricless world deserves.
Reader Comments (21)
Hello stranger!
Oh MB, there you are! lovely!
YAY hoping to hear about all kinds of wonderful adventures!
oh whew........ WE MISSED YOU SO MUCH
thank goodness! She's back and now I can tell my STORY of meeting MB at the GATOR BOWL!
We are alums of THE Ohio State University and live in Jacksonville and knew we had to go support the Buckeyes! We saw the band getting ready to leave a private party or tailgate or something and though that MB would be around somewhere but did not see her. So we headed to the stadium figuring they would march past. All of sudden my husband said there she is! And he pointed to a second floor landing outside the stadium. And she was watching for the band to go by. We saw the band (saw Our Jason and Kyle Who Owns looking GREAT!) and tried to recognize a few others and then shouted her name and waved! She must have thought we were crazy! She was all smiles and very nice but her eyes were SO SAD :( She never said anything about it but no doubt she was missing everybody already and probably Our Jason the most I would imagine. But she was very very gracious. Great to meet you MB and can't wait to read the book and GOOOOOOOOO BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKSSSSSSSSSSS
great post Mary Beth
No crazier than me, Dee The Reader :) Great to meet you and your husband. Sorry the game didn't turn out a little better for you guys.
Mary Beth, in case I am not around on the 15th, have a wonderful birthday!
Hooray for Mary Beth The WonderBlonde!
Dee, thank you for sharing your story. It sounds like you had a great time.
"I am rethinking what my later years will be like. They will be stompy".
This made me laugh! What a good way to start the day.
It sounds like you are indeed wiser after all this, Miss Tink. Looking forward to the finished product coming soon!
jealous of Dee The Reader
Mary Beth I have been thinking of you and The Band every time I saw Ohio State scores on the ESPN news runner. I hope all of you had a great time together at the bowl game.
looking forward to hearing more!
piiiiiictuuuuurrrrrreeeees
Nice to see you back MB.
TBDBITL rocks!
"I am rethinking what my later years will be like. They will be stompy".
LOL, that was my favorite line too :)
want Gator Bowl details!
After all the years of following this blog, I'm happy & grateful that I stuck around.
'Stompy' sounds like a pretty darn good way to kick the bucket. I bet it'll make the robo-nurses mad as hell :)