The significance of what I’m sharing in this post is that our empty nest is imminent. Last month started with Championships. November 1st was the 2014 NWAPA Marching Band Championships in Hillsboro, Oregon, at which my wife and I were enthusiastic spectators. Our youngest son is a senior in high school this year, and he performed with the school’s Marching Ensemble, which was his fifth year in a row. At the Championships, his school’s marching band won first place in their Class A division, and was the only Class A band to advance to finals! We watched both of their performances that day, and if you’d like to see it, too, then click on this link to YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHNUv7nuwL8&list=UU0RIgF-ALDvMkdyi2yKePvg
Of course, we are very proud of him, and proud of his dedication and his completing five years with the Marching Ensemble. Among many other qualities, these five years have built into his character tenacity, which means steadfastness, persistence and determination. My earlier observations on this blog about his school’s marching band were in December, 2010. Here’s a link:
https://leecuesta.com/category/festival-of-bands-2010/
During this year’s championships, I made a couple more, final observations. First, the band, together with the color guard, make use of distraction in order to set up the surprise flourish. It’s just like how an illusionist often performs his magic trick. “Misdirection is a form of deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another.” (1) In other words, while we (as spectators) are focused on the band as they perform one maneuver on the field, we’re not paying attention to the color guard as they position themselves at another spot. So when they suddenly wave their huge, colorful banners, it happens as a surprise. “Managing the audience’s attention is the aim of all Theater, it is the foremost requirement of Theatrical Magic. Whether the Magic is of a ‘pocket trick’ variety, or, a large stage production in Las Vegas, misdirection is the central secret of all Magic.” (1)
Second, in a marching band, each person’s movement is completely unique, yet precise and perfect, which makes the whole perfect. In other words, each individual’s precision makes the band as a whole, as well as the whole performance, perfect. (Of course, true perfection is never achieved, but that is the ideal.)
This year’s show title was “My Muse.” Accordingly, there were several stationary banners on the field containing words such as Nature, Love, Art, Hope, Dance. As with almost all of his school’s award-winning shows, it included some pre-recorded narration. The voices of a young woman and a young man alternately stated: “My muse is power;” “My muse is love;” “My muse is speed;” “My muse is beauty;” “My muse is music.” At the show’s finale, the woman’s voice concludes: “Whatever your muse is, grab onto it and never let it go.”
And this inspiration leads directly into our next major activity in November: by the end of the following week, my son and I were on an Amtrak train en route to Campus Preview Day at Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls. As I mentioned, my son is a high school senior, and he’s already accepted at OIT. Did I mention that we’re proud of him? (Just as we are of all our children.) So as I stated earlier, this signifies that our empty nest is imminent.
A couple of the themes for my Lee Cuesta Live website are “Adventure” and “Discovery.” This trip included both. It was entirely by way of public transportation (almost). It began on Portland’s transit system; then Amtrak; and finally a taxi to the motel in K Falls. My son and I agreed that we like Amtrak because there is no TSA; we can walk around while traveling; there are food and rest rooms readily accessible (rather than having to make stops). On the trip back, we ate lunch in the dining car. I remembered why I like traveling by train.
As I read, sometimes he transcribed music on his notebook computer. It was a great father/son trip for male bonding – three days, two nights together.
A text I sent to my wife: Beautiful sunset north of Eugene! Passing through gorgeous agricultural lands. So refreshing!
The sky was clear on the way down. After crossing the mountains, we could see a nearly full moon rising on our side of the train, the left side, which meant we were heading due south. We were perfectly on schedule until south of Chemult, where the train was delayed nearly one hour. But the clock read 11:11 when we entered our motel room, which was a confirmation again of God’s blessing. (Any spontaneous 11:11 denotes God’s abundant provision and care, however you choose to define God.)
The next morning, we awoke, ate breakfast at the motel, and walked the short distance to OIT for Preview Day. The presenters were very articulate in all the sessions we attended (sometimes with parents and students together, other times separate). The sunshine was beautiful all day, and it’s a very pretty campus, relatively small, with nice facilities. OIT boasts small class sizes (perhaps 14 or 15 students), with a strong emphasis on learning how to do, not just theory. It also offers concurrent degrees – the opportunity to obtain two Bachelors degrees within five years, including internships – which my son plans to achieve. My son said he likes Klamath Falls because it reminds him of Colorado Springs, where he was born and where we lived until he was eleven. When the Preview Day was over, he was “stoked,” and said that now he can’t wait for fall term 2015.
He also made an awesome friendship that day with a senior from OIT, who gave us a ride to the Amtrak station on the morning of the following day, which started out foggy. On this return trip, we were able to see in daylight what we passed through in the dark two days earlier.
A text I sent to my wife: Passing beside rocky canyon with a stream below in a pine forest. Now sunshine.
Some fall colors were still in the leaves. The train passes directly beside Odell Lake at the summit of the Cascades. Also quite close to K Falls is Crater Lake, which is the second deepest lake in North America. And I noticed a couple differences between the east side and the west side of the Cascades. Of course, there was bright, magnificent sunshine east of the summit; the sky became immediately overcast on the west side. All of the trees on the east side are pines; the forest on the west side consists of fir, hemlock and spruce.
After getting off the train at Union Station, we had perfectly timed connections with the transit system in Portland as we returned home. An awesome trip! Which signifies that our empty nest is imminent.
Live in the present, yet do not be present.
Lee Cuesta
Footnote: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misdirection_%28magic%29