Adventures of a First Time Chaperone

When my older son, Grant signed up for Marching Band, I was thrilled! I thought the experience would be really beneficial for him in helping him develop more self-esteem and a sense of belonging to something. So I told him, that if he was willing to make a good effort and not quit, I would support him and do as much as I could to help him succeed. I was ready! I signed up for everything! I volunteered at Band Camp, went to Band Boosters’ meetings, attended the games, went to special performances and even worked the concession stand a couple of times. I was exhausted, but most of all, I was excited to think of my son as part of something.

There was another thing I volunteered for: to be a chaperone.

Although I have been involved in youth activities at church and beside the fact that I am a teacher…I have never really been an official chaperone. How hard could it be? I thought. They are just kids…no biggie! So when back in August, the Band Director announced the need for chaperones for the Band’s trip to Disney World, I was said, sure! Disney World, Orlando…are you kidding me? The happiest place on Earth! I LOVE Disney World…of course I would take any opportunity to go spend a few days hanging out with Goofy, my favorite character! I was all in thinking about ridding Space Mountain and enjoying the new Fantasy Land at Magic Kingdom. This sounded like the perfect getaway!

At first I tried to convince Dan to make it a family trip, but the look on my dearest husband’s face when I first suggested it, indicated that there was no way that was ever going to happen…so I desisted and instead got the paperwork, sent in my deposit, got my clearances and made it into the list of chaperones.

I mean, c’mon…Disney World! Yeah!

Trip Day

The weeks became months, my closet became populated with a nice assortment of Slippery Rock Rockets T-Shirts and Hoodies, Grant’s saxophone playing became more and more pleasant, and sooner than I could say Mickey Mouse, we were boarding the bus. One hundred and six students and chaperones climbed aboard two very nice, brand spanking new, 55 person capacity coaches, both equipped with a state of the arts entertainment system and bathroom. We were certainly traveling in style!

I met the other two women who were going to be my roommates at the hotel and we decided to take front seats on the bus. The two of them sat together and I was across the aisle. It was a great seat. I could even see Grant who was only like two seats behind me. He seemed overwhelmed but excited and that was great to see. Before I could sit down, however, I was bumped to the almost very back of the bus since there were two girls that wanted to sit together and there were only two single seats available on the entire bus. No problem, I’ll be fine. I was blessed to sit next to a really great lady. A wonderful opportunity to meet someone new! It was all good…especially because this was a chance to escape the snow that was piling up like crazy that day here at home. Soooo, as the bus pulled out of the High School, I found myself thinking: Orlando, here we come!

If you are curious about the rest of the story, tune in tomorrow :)