Trombones

I saw a flash mob on You Tube tonight. It was a band in a grocery store playing John Phillip Souza. And the memomy that it brought was....
Well, I wish I had a picture.

There is one in my head.

Dan with his trombone. In his Lindsay Cardinal Band uniform. Tall, lanky, grinning with a gleaming trombone in arm.

It always seemed fitting that he played the trombone. It was as long and lanky as he was. And the uniform was, of course, red and white. You could not miss that tall, stickbird in the back two rows of the band.

He was the reason that I wanted to be in a band. They didn't like to let girls play brass in those days so I grabbed a clarinet. Oh, I am sure I did it to get attention away from him. But to be honest, I envied his ability to play an instrument.

Just like I envied his ability to make friends. I could never make friends like that.

People knew that I was a spoiled little brat. Dan was just down to earth and real. That is what I was so jealous of. It took me years to be real.



But Dan did it from the beginning. It was the trombone that reminded me. And the flash mob being so "normal" in an abnormal setting.

It was so "Dan".

He was really good on that trombone.