Melting my defiant heart

I've been in Texas twice during the last week. Going home, it hit me that this year is the 25th anniversary of my exit from high school into "advanced life". Probably like many, I wonder what happened to who, what went right, what part of that time was life-changing, and what could or should have gone differently. If this describes you, then I bet you also remember when you really (believed you) fell in love for the first time.

Me? It started at drum major camp at UT-Arlington in the summer of 1981. But it really took hold in football stadium on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas, on a hot July day - July 8th - in 1982. Wanna see her picture from back then?

Of course, she is still beautiful today, as you can see. (Click on the picture and you get video!)

Hey, here is what the theater where we met looks like today!

Funny how they all look better and I just look older. (The place has had substantial cosmetic surgery, though!)

Anyway, I remember the moment. I was sitting in the place, a rough around the edges drum major, watching the Madison Scouts go through a clinic (where I shamelessly swiped all the rehearsal ideas), when someone (I think it was a member of the corps, not the band) tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a piece of paper. Okay, it wasn't "a" piece of paper. It was a "libretto", whatever that meant.

I hung on to it for the moment, confused, until at 9:05 p.m. she walked out on the green stage and put on ... a show. Yeah, it was probably rusty. The score was 81.05. But she won the show, and my heart. And I still have the love note (which I think is what libretto means!) tucked safely away.

The music was "Spartacus", a 3 1/2 hour composition by Aram Khachaturian reduced to 11 1/2 minutes of sheer wonder. (Go here for 1982, and here for orchestration, and fall in love yourself.)

Oh, yes, there have been others since then. I dated someone else, had (and still have) a great long term relationship (and still flirt from time to time with others). But I have the love note still, along with the souvenir show program, and even the show flyer*.

I heard this year that she is playing our song again, and so I was hoping to meet my love here, but alas I learn than except for a brief appearance in Allentown, I am out of luck. But then I learned that the show is returning from Mesquite to Lake Highlands, and my first love will arrive there. If I'm really lucky, maybe I'll get to be there with her again on Thursday, July 17. If you're lucky (and smart), you can be there too.


* I have a program from every show ever attended. This one also records Emerald Knights (32.35), Colts (51.20), San Jose Raiders (61.20), Knights (62.45), and Madison Scouts (79.30). I also have the promotional flyer/poster - the 6th Annual; tickets $7 for center, $6 concert, $5 general admission; and two corps that never made it on stage, the Valiant Knights (Enid, OK) and Alamo Marksmen (San Antonio, TX). I always thought if the Alamo Marksmen had arrived, I would have run away with her instead ...