Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

It was a rainy Saturday in Meridian, Mississippi. I had been out on the road a few hours in the morning only to be chased in by heavy rain. Then I went out again just after noon only to be chased again by rain. I gave up on walking for the day. Instead, I went back to the motel to shower and spread everything to dry.

I spoke to my sister-in-law in the afternoon to arrange when and how I would drop by and collect my brother for the next couple of weeks of walking. He would be my support driver. While talking, my sister-in-law told me about her daughter Susan, my niece, and how she was playing in a marching band show that evening in Meridian.

Susan plays in the Jones County Junior College marching band, a.k.a. The Maroon Typhoon. There are about 200 students in the Maroon Typhoon when adding the dancing teams to the musicians. This is a special unit. They have played in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day. Those are the premier events for marching bands in the U.S. This is a special marching band.

Meridian High School was hosting a high school marching band competition. I think this was a regional final or something special. Bands from that area of Mississippi were competing against other bands from schools their size. The Maroon Typhoon would close the evening with a special performance.

This sounded interesting, but I was tired of being out in the weather. It was still drizzling and it was a Saturday the end of a tiring week of walking. I thanked my sister-in-law for the information, but went about other activities for the weather-shortened day.

After a while, I went to the Wal-Mart SuperCenter nearby. I had a craving for tuna salad. I cannot explain the craving, but I had it and I knew that Wal-Mart sold already made tuna salad in their deli section. I picked up the tuna salad, some soft drinks, and a large bad of big-scoop Fritos Corn Chips. I was set.

I stepped into my van in the Wal-Mart parking lot armed with my Fritos and tuna salad. I felt much better than before, and the drizzle had stopped (temporarily). I found Meridian High School on the map on my iPhone and headed for it.  Turn right, turn left, go a while, turn a few more times. I found myself in an area of wonderful old houses. I didn’t know Meridian had such. A few more turns and I saw the lights of the football stadium. A grass parking area was full and I was waved past. That was fortunate as I found a smaller lot on the other side of the street with one empty space. Easy in and easy out.

Admission was five bucks. I liked that. The underside of the concrete stadium was buzzing with hundreds of teenagers and a dozen parents. I passed a couple of openings that led out on the seating area. I kept walking. Ah, there it was, the line for pizza. If there are teenagers, there is probably pizza being sold for $1 a slice. I passed it by as I was satisfied to know that such was universal.

About the middle of the stadium, I walked through an opening and out into the crowded seating area. The competition was between bands and the field was empty. I walked a ways through the crowd.

“Hey, Uncle Dwayne,” yelled a young lady. It was my niece Susan. I looked up to see her running down the stairs. She gave me a hug.

It is pretty nice for a young lady to acknowledge an old man in front of her friends. That could be really embarrassing, but Susan wasn’t embarrassed. That was pretty darn nice of her to honor me that way.

Susan told me that it was going to be two or three hours before The Maroon Typhoon performed. I didn’t want to sit around that long on a metal bench in a concrete stadium in a light drizzle with falling temperatures. Sigh. I went back to my van, turned on the engine and ran the heater a while. I used the big-scoop Fritos to eat the tuna salad. I was pretty hungry and ate all the tuna salad. It was good.

I then walked around the neighborhood. A short walk around felt good after a big dinner, and it had stopped raining for a few moments.

I went back into the stadium and watched marching bands for the next two hours. I was impressed. These teenagers from various Mississippi high schools stood at attention, marched in step, played music, and did lots of other things well. Be stiff at one moment, dance at another moment. Know when to do what, and do it as a team. Such comes from hours of hard work and minutes of intense concentration.

When finished, some of the bands stood at attention on the edge of the field watching the following bands. They stood at attention in the drizzle for half an hour and longer. Amazing.

Some of the bands returned to the stadium after their performance. I was sitting among hundreds of teenagers when it hit me. All these kids were behaving in an examplery manner. There was no cursing, no hazing, no trash talking, nothing of the sort. They were all polite to the others around them and even to an old man wearing a bright yellow L.L. Bean rain jacket. Further amazement.

I walked around watching the performing bands from different vantage points. They were good.

Another thing hit me – this was Mississippi. High school students in Mississippi score last or near last on every national test of every sort. These kids were doing great and they were well behaved. The band directors were reaching these kids, teaching these kids, and enabling them to do amazing things. If the band directors could reach the kids, why couldn’t all the other teachers? I’ll leave that to someone else to answer.

The Maroon Typhoon finally performed after all the high school bands. They were great. Not bad for a group of 18 and 19-year-olds from rural Mississippi.

I found myself standing alone at a good vantage point. I cried and cried. I cried silently without tears. I don’t know why. Remembering my own high school? Wanting to be part of a group like a band after three weeks of being alone on the road? Fatigue releasing itself? Proud of these kids? I don’t know, but I cried and cried.

I am glad my sister-in-law told me about the marching bands.

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I wrote about parts of this evening in my other blog on systems, systems engineering, and other things. See the entry “I Think We’ll be Alright.”