{"id":684,"date":"2023-09-01T13:15:50","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T18:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/?p=684"},"modified":"2024-06-19T06:14:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T11:14:21","slug":"the-legacy-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/01\/the-legacy-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legacy Continues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

And thus, it begins!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t expect to be so emotional, yet, tears were welling up in my eyes, as I watched my first grandchild march onto the field for his first, ever, marching band performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have three sons, all of whom, were involved in music. They started on the piano and gradually moved to different instruments and voice, as their interests developed. I\u2019ve listened to practices on the piano, saxophone, trumpet, tuba, xylophone, synthesizer, and\u2026 I\u2019ve heard more wrong notes than I care to think about. Even after my middle son was in college, he would return home and want to sit down at our piano and work on a new piece. Ultimately, I would think to myself, \u201cCould you just play pieces you already know, so I wouldn\u2019t have to hear the mistakes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our youngest was performing in the last concert of his High School career with the All District Honor Bands, when the elementary band began to play. They squawked out a few quarter notes and made what was almost a melody. Then the Middle School began to play and they added some eighth notes with a discernible tune and rhythm. I turned to my husband and said, \u201cI\u2019m so thankful this is our last school concert. I\u2019m tired of listening to beginning level performances.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No sooner had I whispered those words, when I turned to see the father of our band director sitting in the audience to watch his granddaughter! At that moment, I realized someday, the whole process will begin again with OUR grandchildren\u2014and how proud I would be when it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already, each one of our seven grandchildren has made their way to our piano, plunking out what they perceive to be musical masterpieces. I eagerly sit in the living room and applaud their efforts. The oldest two are taking piano lessons and have played their share of wrong notes at our house as they practiced their lessons and prepared for recitals.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Man
The next generation of proud parents sitting the stands watching and photographing their son<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Yesterday, I sat in 90-degree heat and scorching sun on metal bleachers as I watched Jonathan Jr. stand at attention and then proudly raise his trumpet to the ready. The drum major clicked off the tempo and the band sprang into action as they marched and began to play.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Band
Marching band practice — standing at attention<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I was flooded with emotion as I could see his dad and uncles doing the exact thing in the years gone by. Our sons are four years apart and all played in Marching Band, Jazz Band, Winter Drumline, Concert Band, and Wind Ensemble. That means 12 years of High School band performances and Band Booster involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019ve done at every other Marching Band performance, I hooted and hollered so that my child, and now grandchild, knew I was there, feet stomping with thunderous applause.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Pre-teen
Jonathan Briggs Jr. with his trumpet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As we congratulated Jonathan Jr. after the performance, the sheen of layers of sunscreen glistened in the sun, salt crusted around his eyebrows and sweat was dripping from his temples, he said, \u201cI\u2019m committed for all four years!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poppa said, \u201cThese may well be the best years of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told him, \u201cThe skills you learn here will benefit you for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it worth it? Absolutely!! The legacy continues! What my husband and I experienced in our youth, we passed on to our children. We supported and participated in their musical endeavors and now, today, we see that carried on in the lives of our grandchildren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n
\n
\"Dark
Lauren Littauer Briggs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Through her speaking and writing, Lauren<\/a> encourages people with her heartfelt messages and practical presentations. She is the author of The Art of Helping<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 What to say and Do When Someone is Hurting.  Lauren and her family are active in both church and community choral groups. She lives in Redlands, CA.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The legacy continues! What my husband and I experienced in our youth, we passed on to our children. We supported and participated in their musical endeavors and now, today, we see that carried on in the lives of our grandchildren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,8],"tags":[177,61,176],"class_list":["post-684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grandparents-relationships","category-relationships","tag-band-practice","tag-best-life","tag-grandparnting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1371,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions\/1371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}