In April 1979, Sister Sledge released the hit song “We Are Family.” It soared up the charts, finishing #1 on the R&B chart and #2 on the pop chart for the entire year. It even became the theme song for the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team that won the World Series.
Family can mean many things to many people. Of course, you have your blood relations, and to many, that’s the strongest form of family imaginable. Others, however, find that they can’t choose those people who are your family and don’t always have the most cordial relationships with everyone at a family reunion.
Still, your parents, siblings, and children, among other relatives, can be so vital in finding happiness in life. These are most often people who will stick by you no matter what. They are invested in your well-being and will bend over backwards to help you and support you through thick and thin. When we’re young, Mom and Dad are there to help us through broken bones, break-ups, and bad grades. As we all get older, we return the favor for our parents. (Maybe not the bad grades, but…)
Many people have others they consider to be just like family. You might have a close-knit group of friends who are just as supportive, or moreso even, than your own relatives. These are people with whom you have shared experiences that are irreplaceable. You have memories with them that you do not with anyone else. Again, some are good and others are bad, but those links make those friends seem as if you should share a last name with them.
Friends sometimes change as you grow older and move around. You might lose track of your high school friends when you go off to college and make new acquaintances. You might slowly lose track of them as well when you get a job somewhere and meet even more new folks. Or you might maintain relationships with friends from all eras of your life and feel yourself lucky to have people that are just like family there for you.
And sometimes we have groups or organizations we are part of that represent a different type of family based on shared interests. Anyone who has been part of a sports team will tell you that sports families bring a different level of intensity and caring. Some of the very best teams I’ve had the good fortune to coach have been the ones where not all the players were best friends off the court or the field, but they looked out for each other when we weren’t competing and supported teammates who didn’t necessarily sit at the same table at lunch every day.
Other groups are very similar. Band is one great example. There’s something about music that brings people together, and a shared love of music creates a closeness that is akin to the feelings our families often engender. The fact that our band goes through a training camp to prepare for marching season makes them similar to any sports team. They have to get in shape and be ready to perform at a peak level, just like any basketball or football player.
My daughter was so excited before her freshman year to be a part of the high school band at last. Just by attending marching band camp the spring before, she was exposed to a great family-like group. She loves sports, but gets most excited when talking about something related to the band. The culture created by the NRHEG band is a safe place where you can geek out over using a plunger as part of a musical piece.
The kids in the band have really taken on the idea of band as family as a mantra this year. They stand by each other and develop friendships that will last the test of time. Their trip to San Diego was filled with great moments that families often find when they travel together.
And another thing that families have is problems. One of the biggest problems, and we all know families fighting it, is cancer. Probably everyone reading this knows at least one person fighting that hated disease right now. It’s likely that you know more than one. There has always been great support in the NRHEG communities for those facing that battle.
And our NRHEG band is affected just like any family. There are band members who have family facing cancer, so the band has decided to unite as a family does. They will be selling “Band is Family” t-shirts to anyone interested and donating the funds raised to those members of the band family that are facing that most difficult of challenges.
All the band members will be wearing these for their concert in March, and the hope is that many in the crowd will have them on too. Support, even in a minor way, can really help those involved in this fight. If you would like to support those facing down cancer and buy a T-shirt or make a donation, please contact me or Mr. Otstot, our band director, at school by Feb. 6. Shirts are $10.
If you’ve ever been part of a band family, think about those great memories you have. Look at your own, current family and treasure the moments, good or bad, that will stay in your memory forever.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is exeleutherostomize, which means to speak out freely, as in, “The columnist felt impelled to exeleutherostomize about the school band because it meant so much to him.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!