Family

Its Thanksgiving time, we all spend time with our family, you know, Grandma, Grandpa and Cousins? This Thanksgiving I got to be with my 200+ and somewhat dysfunctional family. I can honestly say it was the greatest experience of my life so far.

DAY 1
The excitement had been building up for days and my bag was packed. I woke up Tuesday morning overwhelmed with excitement and exhaustion. It was so early and yet I was so awake. As the busses pulled out of the parking lot I kept saying, "We’re going, we're actually going to NYC." The whole way there we sang, talked, slept and laughed. We even had some rap battles. It was late that night and we finally saw the city lights in the distance. There it was, "The City that never Sleeps" "The Big Apple" New York City, New York. I smile crept across my face, "we're here and we're about to have the greatest weekend of our lives" and I was right.

DAY 2:
The next morning we woke up from a wild and crazy night in our hotel and loaded up the busses for a day of shopping. After much traffic and a long trip through the Lincoln tunnel we finally emerged between enormous buildings and beautiful skylines. We were dropped off on 34th street between 5th and 6th avenue. I had money in my pocket and a mindset to do some bargain shopping. I don't think you really get how big New York is until you step out onto the sidewalk and stare up at the immense height of the buildings. I looked up at the empire state building and it rose higher and higher disappearing into the mist. "This place is truly amazing" is all I thought. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon riding up and down escalators through the many floors of H&M, Payless and of course the store that had brought us to this city, Macy's. We traveled through all nine floors of the largest store in the world. We found so many things. This includes parade merchandise, giant giraffes, Santa land and even a McDonald's where we got our lunch. As we stepped out of the store, I saw it: The patch of green on the streets with a big red star in the center with cameras angled towards it. This is the exact spot where the world will see us tomorrow. This is it. I was overwhelmed with excitement and happiness and just about any other good feeling. The busses then picked us up and we were off to Radio City music hall. Despite the ticket confusion they did a fantastic job in the show. A New York classic. The rest of the evening was spent in the larger than life stores of Times Square. Times Square is the shining gem of the entire city. Beautifully lit and bustling with activity and excitement. I simply love it. At the end of the night, we gathered for our group picture and headed for the busses knowing that we had a big day ahead of us. On the way home we premiered the rap sequence we had created for the seniors (they were at a show while we created on the last bus ride)
DAY 4:
We had packed up all of our belongings and got ready for the tour. We saw all the rest of NYC and stopped for shopping and lunch. I spent the ride home sleeping, watching movies and talking to some of the greatest friends...scratch that....family I could ever ask for. I love each and every one of them with all of my heart.
I skipped day 3 because I wanted to leave you with the most exciting day of the trip. The most memorable and the greatest day of my life:

DAY 3:
About two hours after we had dozed off, our alarms went off. This was no accident, it was time to get up and leave for practice. We suited up in the white pants, purple jackets adorned with parade participant's pins and hats complete with white feathered plumes. We were all so tired that we could hardly function but we all made it to the bus and into the city. We got up to the lighted practice area and ran through our show twice. We finally got to go back to the bus to eat and sleep until parade time. I woke up to the bus moving along to get to the starting line of the parade. We got closer and closer seeing people finding their seats along the route. We finally got to the line up area. It was amazing we saw all of the floats and balloons up close. We met celebrities and had a great time. At this point we had all forgotten our exhaustion because it had been replaced with excitement. The Macy's official in charge of us finally said. "IT'S TIME TO GO!" we ran to our position on the streets and we heard the announcer say, "Next lining up is the Pickerington Central Marching Tigers for their fourth year in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Pickerington Central Marching Tigers, PLEASE JOIN THE PARADE" at the sound of these words I was overwhelmed with pride excitement and happiness; I could no longer hold it in. Tears of joy streamed down my face and my smile never left my face the whole parade. We followed the Pillsbury dough boy the entire route and the mass of people was incredible. At least 10 people deep in every area. You could feel the happiness all around you. Everyone was wishing each other a happy thanksgiving, shaking the directors' hands and throwing confetti. The cheers were loud as we passed. "GO TIGERS" "GO OHIO" "YAY PICKERINGTON" Each time I heard these cheers, my heart swelled even more with pride. I am a Pickerington Central Marching Tiger. I am here in the world renowned parade having the time of my life. I cannot think of anything that could make me happier right now. The look on Mr. Joy and Mr. Riley's faces reflected the feelings I had. I could tell they were so proud of us. It’s something we needed. We were having such a hard season and this made everything worth it. There was nothing that could bring us down. After a long while of marching and stopping we got to the point where we switched into our formation positions. This was it, our TV portion. The focus of most of the world was about to be on us. I had more butterflies than I'd ever had. I was happier than I've ever been. Finally: TAP. This was our signal and off we went. Jingle bells playing, crowds cheering, lights shining and hearts swelling. All the happenings of that very moment. This was it. This was one of the greatest moments of High school. I highly doubt anything that comes along will top that. I dare the world to prove me wrong. I finished that parade knowing that I'd just made a lifelong memory. I had just experienced the highlight of my life so far. I had a very big reason to be thankful that Thanksgiving.

The day only got better from there. I spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for thanksgiving dinner. I ate my usual turkey and bread with pie following that with all of my family away from family. We then danced the night away and had the perfect ending to the perfect day.


IN THE SPIRIT OF THANKSGIVING:
This has been great. I will never experience anything like it again and I want to thank Mr. Sewell.: He is the reason we got there he has been the greatest band director we could ever ask for and has taught us everything we know and made us the band and people we are today. There is nothing we could ever do to repay everything he has ever done for us. Mrs. England: She does so much for us and receives nothing. She spends all of her time making these trips safe and fun. She provides the experiences we all get. Thank you. Mr. Joy: he is one of the most loving and hard working people I know. He pours his life into this band. No matter what happens he is there for us and knows what to do. I hope that he will one day take Sewell’s place and become just as great. He deserves it and I know he will be fantastic. Mr. Gorgas: he's done more than people realize he is a genius. Thank you for all that you do for us. Plus you are hilarious. Corey Riley: he's not even paid and yet he takes time out of his life to make us a better band. Thanks.

PHSC Marching Tigers: Directors, Parents, Chaperones, and Students. I love each of you with a passion that grows stronger and stronger with each memory we make. Its experiences like these that make me realize how lucky I am to be part of something so great. Sure we have very ugly moments and hard times but when I think about what we did this weekend it is overwhelming. We marched the most prestigious parade of all time. We were part of a tradition of the country. I also have so many great times with all of you. We know how to take any situation good or bad and make it 100x better. There are not words to describe how great you all are and how much I love you. Thank you for the experience of a lifetime.