You would think that you’d need to play a musical instrument to join the marching band, but that is actually not the case. I was in the band at Hillsborough High School from day one. I had switched at some point from piano to trombone as one of my instruments, and it was a given that I would join the Big Red marching band. Kim on the other hand had never touched a musical instrument in her life, but at some point, when she realized that her friends and boyfriend were going on fun trips to places like Gatlinburg, she decided to give it a try.

She started playing flute. She enrolled in some lessons and got all the music for our school’s fight song, the alma mater, and the half-time show. She was ready to go. Except, I don’t think she really was. Some of us learned our music, knew every note, and were ready to toot away on the field. I’ll leave it to Kim to tell you whether she learned her parts or not.

The funniest part of this is that one day in practice we were drilling the half-time show, making sure that we had the music and moves in sync. I was one of the drum majors at this point, and the band director and I were walking the field checking for mistakes when he yelled out, “Kerby, your notes are flat” and then moved on to the clarinets.

I laughed because I was in on a little secret. Kim hadn’t played a note at that rehearsal, possibly not all year. Sure, she’d learned a few basic scales in her lessons, but on a football field with 150 other instruments, it didn’t really matter what a little flute did. She was just holding her flute in playing position and marching, but no sound was coming out.

The next year, Kim got wiser, realizing that you could still go on the band trips (and hang out with your boyfriend, the drum major) if you were on the Dancerette team, so she finished out her time in high school on the dance squad and put her air flute away. For a while though, she had everyone fooled. If there were competitions for air flute like there are for air guitar, she would win every time.

Today, on Veterans Day, we are especially thankful to all veterans. Without your service, we wouldn’t have the freedom to enjoy our gardens. If you are a veteran or active military and you want to get out in your garden this weekend, let our cashiers know at checkout and we’ll give you 20% off of your entire purchase (through 11/14/21). Thank you for your service!