"Honey, were you expecting mail from the Blue Devils?"
"What?"
"The Blue Devils"
"WHAT? I can't hear you; I'm giving the girls a bath!"
"Oh…" Adam walked into the bathroom of their new mini-condo where a rather frazzled Andy was bathing two slippery two year-olds.
"Blue Devils. Were you expecting mail from them?"
Andy, momentarily distracted from the splashing girls in the bath, turned around with an amazed look on her face. Adam shuffled through the mail again. "Oh, and there's something from the local school district. I'll just leave them…" Suddenly, a rubber duck flew over Andy's head and hit Adam square in the face. Andy finished his sentence for him, turning back around to the tub.
"On the kitchen table, right?"
"Right…"
"Krissy! No throwing things at Daddy!"
It wasn't till much later that night, when both the girls had been put to bed and were sleeping peacefully that Andy thought about the letters. Unfortunately, she was already lying in bed, wrapped in Adam's strong arms when she thought of it. Right now, she was going to take a leaf from her two curly-haired brunette daughters' book and completely zonk out. She was warm, safe, and loved. That was all she had ever wanted.
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Or so she thought until she opened the letters nonchalantly over a breakfast of yogurt. With a full mouth, she stared at the first letter.
"AH-AHM! Iga ayob ath dashool!"
"Swallow and breathe, lovely wife of mine" Adam took a towel and deftly wiped up the cereal from the face of the daughter he was feeding at the moment while the other was toddling around the house with a tom over her head.
"I got a job at the school as an assistant percussion instructor!"
"Did you open the letter from the Blue Devils?"
"Oh, no, I completely forgot about that one. Heather honey, take the drum off your head and go play with your toys."
Andy examined the letter with a vague sort of anticipation, slowly ripping the top open. Her eyes opened until they were completely round, and a noise that was reminiscent of a choked cat came out of her mouth before she fell off her chair.
"Andy!"
"I got accepted to a drum corps…"
"Mommy, what are you doing on the floor?"
Andy started laughing and hugged Heather to her as she sat up. She had finally gotten her life back on track. A job and a continuation of the music she loved so much, two beautiful daughters, a house, and someone to love. That was all a girl could ask for.
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"Okay, boys, bear with me for a second." Andy turned to the girls of the drum line with a twinkle in her eyes. "Girls, the only way you're going to learn to march correctly is to find the part of you that holds your femininity, and then lock it up in a dark cabinet for a while. Once you put that drum on, you are no longer the girl in the sexy jeans. You are no longer the seductive vixen with the great hair. You are, in effect, a man with ovaries." Andy turned to their blank faces and laughed. "Just do what I say and march"
The girls strapped on their drums along with the boys and lined up in their parade formation. Andy watched them marching around the same parking lot she had marched around when she was a student here six years ago. Flashbacks of that time ran through her head as she called out to the flawless block.
"Good job, you're dismissed for the day. Remember, tonight's the Line-Girl's-night-out dinner. Boys, Mr. Allain will be taking you bowling Thursday. All the girls who are coming with, I've got room in my truck for…all of you so let's get going."
Andy looked down at the beaming faces of her female students as they sat around her in a shining semi-circle as she spoke to them at her house.
"Girls, there are few moments in your life when you feel more feminine then the split second after you take your drum harness off, and when you have a baby. Always remember that. Remember also, that no matter how much you love a boy, always keep your dreams in sight, because if you don't, you'll end up like me. Not that I regret my life and how I lived it. I mean, how can you regret having an amazing job doing things you love, two children and a loving husband?"
Andy smiled, hugging a sleepy Heather and Krissy to her. "Just know that having a baby before you go to college isn't the best idea. I was lucky that I had an understanding father, and a boyfriend who married me. Not everyone can say that about their family and friends. Just know that your life, no matter what path you take, is under your direction. If you get drunk, that was a choice you make. If you quit band, that's a choice you make. Your life is all choices, and you will make some bad ones. But ultimately, all of you will end up happy if you choose to be. And that…THAT… is the one thing I want to keep with you as you go on with life."
Andy smiled again as she looked up at the eyes that were beaming back at her.
"Hey, do any of you like AC/DC?"