Eric’s Blog

Sorry that this post is about a week late. I’ll explain why in my next post that will catch everyone up on what is going on.

Last weekend, we went out to Harrisonburg to visit Sarah and go to the Homecoming game at JMU. We got up early Saturday morning and drove straight to Sarah’s apartment. We met Mom and Dad there and had brunch before going to the quad for the band’s warm-up and the football game.

Pre-Game

The game was rowdy compared to the one we’d gone to earlier in the year. We were in the visitor’s side of the field which is really just an overflow of the student section. The group directly behind us was already drunk when they took their seats. One guy and his girlfriend on the top row behind us got into a fight and had to be taken out of the stands by the police.

The energy during the game is a lot of fun. Every time JMU scores points, streamers are thrown all over the bleachers. Duke Dog is one of our favorites, and every time JMU gets a first down, the crowd chants, “J M U, Duuuuuuukes!”

The game was good. I wasn’t sure that JMU was going to pull it out. During the first quarter, they weren’t playing very well. Towards the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter, there were a few good plays where things turned in favor of JMU. The team pulled things together and won the game; they’ve won enough games at this point to be bowl eligible.

The Game

The Marching Royal Dukes (a.k.a. MRDs, a.k.a. the band) performs to the press box during halftime and to the visitor’s side post-game. When the performance is done, the parents of MRD members are invited onto the field. The band gets some notes about what to expect for the rest of the week from the director and they all play the hymn, Salvation is Created, which has special meaning for Adrianne because she’s performed that piece multiple times when she was in band.

Post-Game

After the game, Adrianne, Sarah, Mom, and Dad went to band of brothers outside the stadium. This is where the band members get together and enjoy a bit of camaraderie. I went back to the parking garage and got the car to give everyone a ride since we were all tired out.

We went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Since it was Adrianne’s birthday, of course we got her to get up on the saddle. Being the lady that she is, she rode side-saddle. Her other kid, Jocelyn, and her boyfriend came along to dinner with all of us, it was a nice time.

We retired to our respective hotels for the night and resolved to get together in the morning to share another meal together before we departed for home.

The Morning After

The hotel we stayed in was nice. The one Mom and Dad stayed in…not so much. It was nice to have a shower that wasn’t in the camper where we didn’t have to worry about the hot water tank running out, or filling up the grey water tanks too quickly. We all met at Sarah’s apartment and decided to go out to brunch.

While we were waiting for our table, we found a little set of shops across the street. There was a bookshop, a coffee shop, a vintage clothing shop, and some other sundry stores that were nice to look around.

After brunch, we said our goodbyes and parted ways. It was a nice weekend, but it was time to head home and great ready for the week ahead. Although, I don’t know that anything could have prepared us for what we’d experience in the next week, but you can learn more about that in my next post.