Coming home.....

Have any of you seen this video floating around the internet and tv the past couple weeks?  

That's totally my college marching band!  The one I was in!  It's had almost 2 1/2 million hits.  (Yes, MILLION!)  It's getting all kinds of (well deserved) recognition, thanks to social media, and a well timed, popular song.  The Marching 110 has marched that style and danced like that for 40 years now.  So, go ahead.  Call me a band nerd.  I don't really care.  Because I know that I wasn't a band nerd.  Our band was cool.  It still is.  Yes, there were and are for sure nerds in the band, as in every group or club or sports team.  But on Ohio University's campus, when you say you are in the band, people's reactions are more along the lines of "that's awesome!"  or "you guys rock!".  And if someone doesn't say that, it's probably because they have never seen us.  

This week me and my family will be traveling down to Athens, Ohio to attend Ohio University's homecoming.  And I will be marching in the alumni band.   There is a joke that homecoming is like Christmas to the members of the alumni band, and it's true.  For me, it's actually way better than Christmas.  The music is cooler, there is more liquor,  and I get to see more family and friends than at Christmas.  

Many of my friends in Colorado ask me about homecoming.  Why I go every year.  Why it's fun.  What I do there.  It's not something I can explain very well.  The only real way to understand is to have lived it.  But I'll do my best.

The Marching 110 means so much to me.  While marching, I met my husband.  My sister met her husband.  Many of my friends met their spouses, and I made life long friends.  Not only did I learn how to march, dance, and play rock songs on a mellophone, but I also learned the true meaning of discipline and hard work.  The performance you saw in the video above was just one song of a show of  (probably) 4 or 5 songs.  The band marches several songs to a drill, and then ends on a dance chart, like the one above.  And, here's the thing.  We would learn an entire show in a week.  A DIFFERENT SHOW EVERY WEEK! 

My  husband, Eric, was the Field Commander my 4th year.  He played cymbals and shook his booty like nobody's business, but he was a hard ass Field Commander.  Even I was scared of him, and he was my boyfriend!  

My 5th year I was a Dance Commander and was in charge of making up and teaching the band the dances.  It was a blast and something that I will always be proud of and remember well.  

Every year at homecoming, I get to reconnect with all of my good friends I made in the 110 and get to party and march like I'm still in college.  (Although my body quickly reminds me that it's been 10 years since I was marching, dancing and, possibly, drinking like that on a daily basis!)   

I love every second of it, and am counting down the days until I get to be back on campus again!


If you want a good laugh or are interested in seeing my husband and I in all of our marching band glory, click on some of these videos below!

Here's a video of the alumni band show from last year.  This year we are playing "play that funky music". 

I'm a "dancing fool" in this one.  I'm on the far left in the front.  (My name was Michele Seymour back then)

Here we are in 2000 at the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  (Boy, we played Dancing Fool at special shows a lot that year!)

This is my senior year, playing at a Brown's halftime.  Sorry about the horrible sound, but for a real treat, be sure to pay close attention around the 7:30 mark.  That pelvic thrusting fool is my uber conservative husband.  

One of my favorite 110 tunes of all time!

P.S.  I finished making the wrap watch bracelet I'm giving away tonight!  Don't forget to enter to win it!!