TOURNAMENT OF ROSES

UPDATE

December 28, 2007

FINAL UPDATE

Well here I sit at 12:18 AM just waiting for all the fun to start! In roughly one hour all the insanity that we have been looking forward to for over 14 months will begin. WHAT WAS I THINKING????

This short email blurb is to YOU ... the parents ... who will get this sometime while we are gone. To you I say thank you for all your efforts in making this incredible trip possible for your child and all other band members. It has been a fun (?) 14 months leading up to tonight and I can honestly say I am like a little kid at Christmas! It is a new adventure and one that hopefully will be a memory that will be etched in your mind and your child's mind for the rest of your life.

I greatly appreciate your making this possible for all students as we have LEFT NO CHILD BEHIND!! All your fund raising all your organizing, all your attention to detail with paperwork as made this quite easy for me. Yes there were times when I thought I would pull my hair out but through it all, we are headed to Pasadena for the SUPER BOWL of band events. Yes, I know I am sometimes NOT THE EASIEST PERSON to work with or for. Yet, I also know I try to give your child and all of their friends a great memory with events and trips like this TOR experience. I am not sure you know but I have been asked to come to the Tournament house one night while we are there and speak to all the '09 band directors who will have their bands in Pasadena next year. I feel honored to have this opportunity and can't quite figure out why they invited me! But I will go and tell them about all of you and how thrilled we all are to be in Pasadena on January 1, 2008.

IN closing thanks fora all your efforts and I hope your child has a trip of a lifetime. The weather will be great. Our performances will be great. The food will be great (except the two bags of peanuts on the plane).

Jeffery H. Richardson, Band Director