Band Concert Chaos

Last night was a different kind of evening than we had planned. Ben's final concert was supposed to be at the high school. There was a terrible storm coming as we drove to the school. After we dropped Ben off at the door, the radio announced a tornado warning for our county as we parked. When we walked into the school, we were told to go to the interior hall to wait until the warning was over. It wasn't a long one, and it wasn't even raining out, so we waited patiently in the hall and chatted with friends. They announced the end of the warning, so we headed to the concert. As the kids got set up, we could hear rumbles of thunder and pouring rain overhead. Ben is in 6th grade, but their band is so good. I am amazed at what Mrs. Mandudis has done with them in the course of a year. They are usually together and usually in tune, a rarity among middle school bands when I was part of one. They played 4 songs, and as they prepared to play the 5th, appropriately titled "The Tempest," we were told of another tornado warning and escorted to the hall again. This time you couldn't see outside for all of the rain. It was a little more tense and lasted a whole lot longer. Ben stayed with the band in the inner hallway near the auditorium. Fred had gone into the gym to watch the faculty versus seniors basketball game, so we assumed he was in the locker room hallway. This time the warning was extended instead of being lifted. Finally, at 8:15, they lifted the warning and cancelled all events for the evening. It was a sad ending to Ben's only year in band. I hope they reschedule the concert. The 7th and 8th grade band didn't get to play a note. This picture is Chris and Peter in the hallway waiting out the storm. There were funnel clouds spotted, but no tornados touched down. We drove through some rivers and past many dark houses to get home, but thankfully we didn't lose power or trees.