Lifespan - and a story of a Short lifespan...

The last show I ever taught and had performed wasn’t supposed to be – but I’m awfully glad it was.

In 2010, as long-standing followers of Act II Ministries and this blog will attest (and sit down, by the way – you don’t have to be so long-standing!), I re-connected with my high school sweetheart, Melissa Perusich, with whom I’d had an on-again, off-again, on-again relationship with for ten years interrupted by distance and her traumatic childhood/young-adulthood. In 1992, we finally gave up and went off to relationships with people who reminded us of the other. Eighteen years and one spousal desertion each later, she reached out to me, I reached back, and in December we married and blended our eight-child family. It was through her that I finally came completely to Christ, and with her that I began Act II Ministries, and in her memory that I continue it through this blog and novel-writing and other avenues unrelated to this conversation, after her death in 2014, three days short of our fourth anniversary.

But in 2011, both of us were still fairly healthy, and I had created a marching band field show that was representative of our life together, though not exactly a mirror of it (it’s marching band, not a Lifetime Channel Movie of the Week!). The show was called LIFESPAN, and it told the story of two childhood sweethearts (played by my youngest son and twin daughters, one at a time!) meeting on a playground. They frolicked to “When You Wish Upon A Star”, and then exited to the front, where my bride Melissa was in hiding behind a barrier and helped my son change outfits – we simply changed girls entirely!

In came two of my color guard students, a dramatic young man named Adrian dressed as my son had been, and an outstanding dancer named Sabrina dressed as my daughter had been. They represented the two of us in high school while the band played “Summer Nights” from Grease!, and then during Rhapsody In Blue they were drawn into their own professional worlds and grew apart, Adrian and the brass section moving off back field, leaving Sabrina and the woodwinds up close – and alone.

Sabrina created a remarkable solo dance to Evanescence’s My Immortal, and the brass brought Adrian back with the opening of As If We Never Said Goodbye, from the musical Sunset Boulevard. As we discussed yesterday, the students have a great deal of input into these shows, so they get ownership in the final product. Besides the creation of Sabrina’s dance number, they came up with a big “push” (the whole band moving forward together in a powerful section of music) where they literally stepped over the color guard lying on the ground! (Rehearsing that the first few times was nerve-wracking!)

Here’s where it gets a little freaky.

At the very end of that song, the song where they re-unite, Adrian’s character falls ill, and it segues straight into the ballad, What’ll I Do?, where Sabrina nurses over Adrian, who’s sitting in a rocking chair. At the end of the song, he passes away, she cries over him, and then she passed away. It was just a story at the time, but basically, as soon as Melissa and I re-united, we both fell ill, and she passed away, and I… well, to be continued.

The band turns and sings Amazing Grace, and then plays a big version of it, which ends with my littlest son and the other twin girl, both in glittery, shiny white and silver “angel” outfits, holding hands and “flying” up a corridor through the band to a shining star and cross at the top of the pass – while the band segues into just a little bit of “When You Wish Upon A Star” to end the show on a very light note, surrounding the star and cross and the two little kids.

Interestingly, towards the last three weeks of the season, my “angel” daughter had to have a cast on her legs (to correct a cerebral palsy defect), so the teenager who volunteered to “fly” her up the corridor kept getting kicked in the head by her casted feet, which she didn’t always have the strength to keep up out of his face! Poor Blake!

SO, as the school year progressed, and my condition worsened (as did Melissa’s, for that matter), we ended the year by taking the marching band to perform in the Portland Rose Parade, which was an amazing experience worth an essay of its own. I got off that bus back at the school at midnight the morning before summer school started, and knew I couldn’t handle the physical challenges of teaching band any longer. I turned in my resignation as band director, but the district graciously found me another position – first, teaching math, and then as the director of our alternative school, which I am to this day.

No more field shows. But that last one was the story of my life with the woman I’d loved throughout it, and she was a part of that show as well. (Melissa was also an outstanding flautist, and sat in with the band whenever she was strong enough.) My oldest son was a freshman and marched in the show; my second son was a fifth grader at the time, and he really wanted to be a part of the band those last few years I was there, so he was playing suspended cymbal in the ‘pit’ (down in front where the non-mobile instruments are parked). And my three youngest children were actors in the show. It’s the only band photo I have on my wall: the Jerome HS Ambush of Tigers from 2011, including me and all five of my children in their uniforms for the show (Melissa refused to be in the picture, and I suppose since technically she was “pit crew”, that was appropriate. But still…).

It had never been the plan for that show to become my ‘swan song’. I had a magnificent show prepared for 2012 called “EMPIRE AND REBELLION”, where we split the band in half and created a battle between the two halves. I utilized forty different melodies in the show: some for two measures, some for two minutes. We were going to use both the old and new uniforms, and had all sorts of tricks and stunts we had prepped to include. But it was NOT the kind of show that a new director should have to teach, and he set it aside to do a much more conventional show based on the music of Chuck Mangione.

In retrospect, though, I couldn’t have planned it any better, and God knew that when he set it up. I was only beginning my walk with God, but His Hand was apparent throughout our marriage. Even through her death, I’ve seen His Hand guiding me beyond life with Melissa – that first year was so hard! But last year I met Dana, who has helped me move on with God’s plans for my life without having to leave my life with Melissa behind completely. Now, Dana and I are working together as Christians in love, with me serving in the mentor role that Melissa used to serve for me. Perhaps it won’t be long until she’s the one writing this blog when I’ve moved on! 

But I won’t be able to write a field show about that. Not any more.

PS: That photo makes it look like I'm not happy - it's called "acting". That's where my son gets his talent from! If I recall, Dana had beaten me at Scrabble and was commemorating her conquest. Believe me - I'm happy having Dana in my life!