TRIP DAY! :(

I suspected that today would be a little more difficult. It was still a good day full of sunshine and progress. Another good day at Physical Therapy, drove around for a while and my sister in-law, Heather and our niece, Alexis drove in to visit from Rochester. I took a long walk around town, while Maggie was at her eye-doctor appointment, at which she found out she does not need glasses...YET!
Approximately

Today was trip day. Approximately one year ago, after a trip in which we took 50 students to Atlanta, Georgia for a performance and tour, my co-worker Greg and I decided that 4 years was enough time in between and we should plan another trip with the entire marching band to Disney World, Florida for this year.

Trips have always been a large part of my agenda as a music teacher. One of the main reasons I chose my profession was the experiences that I had while a student at Connetquot High School. The trips were always such an amazing experience for all involved. The planning, fund-raising, competition preparation and the actual trip itself always brought the students and staff closer together. As a relatively shy, introverted, high school student, the trip was a time that I really came out of my shell and grew as a person. It was always fun to see the different friendships and relationships that would sprout up during and after the trips. People who would not have become friends were brought together because of the trip. There are even a couple of weddings that have happened between students who connected on trip. This is why I love planning them for my students.

Over my eleven years as a teacher, this is probably at least the 9th trip I have planned and exectuted. This one is the most difficult. The Disney trip involves air flights and is more expensive than any other trip I do. This year it was even more difficult. Although we started the initial plans last May and June, the plans were not set in place until this past fall, right in the middle of the failing economy, loss of jobs and a very tense economic time. The flights to Orlando were few and far between because the airlines had cut back on service and when you travel by plane in groups, it actually is more expensive than if you try to book you and your family a flight. Of course the hotels were more expensive and because I insist on focusing only on our student's well-being while on the trip, I use a student tour company to take care of all of the details while we are there. Yes it is more expensive, but I don't have to worry about any problems while we are there. The tour company takes care of everything. As I put all of the details together for this trip, it became obvious that it would be very expensive. In fact, in out initial meeting with students and parents I announced that it could be as much as $1500 per student. I didn't think it would end up being that much, but I know I would rather hear the worst case scenario if I were a parent. I gave the information to the parents along with a deadline for an initial deposit. I figured that we would know if there was enough support for the trip by the amount of students who committed with the deposit. We had a ball park number that we would need to have, but we also had to be mindful of the fact that we had to have a representative instrumentation for it to make sense to go. If we had 25 drummers, 2 trumpet players and 4 clarinet players, it probably wouldn't work!

As the deadline for deposits passed, my pessamistic co-worker was convinced that we wouldn't have enough...I preferred the wait and see approach. The money started flowing in and when the deadline passed, we had over 120 students committed to this trip. I was definitely shocked. It meant one of two things....either there was no recession in the Connetquot community or the community appreciated and understood the importance of this experience for their child and would make whatever sacrifice necessary for their child to go. So the trip was a go...now the real work began.

Because of the guilt I felt due to the cost of the trip, I planned a myriad of fund-raisers to help defray some of the cost. We did huge candy sales, entertainment book sale, cookie dough, yankee candle sale, chinese auction that some parents organized, bake sales, car wash, smelly pencils, etc. Sounded like a good idea, however the book keeping that was involved was never ending. I found it nearly impossible to complete all of my daily teaching duties while keeping track of all of the fund raising materials coming in and out. I counted and deposited money nearly every day. I was constantly on the computer adjusting the large excel spreadsheet that I had set-up for this. It was very overwealming...one or two days almost causing a panic attack as I recall. As we moved into January and February the work started to shift away from fund raising and toward the nuts and bolts of the trip. Scheduling the performance times, hotel room assignments, flight assignments, putting together the itinerary and trip handbook for the parents and students, and a lot of other details. I stayed up with all of it while my health was clearly deteriorating. I remember talking to my co-worker and great friend, Greg one day in my office about some of the things I was experiencing. I down-played most of it, but I do remember telling him that I was a bit concerned for the brain MRI. I am so thankful that I was so organized and completed much of the trip work before my diagnosis. We were to have our final trip meeting with the parents in which we would give out the handbook and itinerary and go over every detail. Everything was ready, but it was the weekend before the meeting when I found out that my life would be forever changed. That weekend was so dark as I wrote in previous posts because all I knew is that they found something on my brain and I had at least 2-3 days before I would get any answers. Because the meeting was coming up that Tuesday night, I had to meet with Greg and go over what he needed to do. He stopped over on Sunday afternoon. I don't know who I felt more sorry for...myself or him. It was obviously very hard for him to see me like I was. He had trouble sitting still and clicked his pen over and over nervously. I did my best to keep my composure, but it was very difficult. Greg got through the meeting fine and notified the students and parents about my condition. The students took it very hard and the parents were very concerned as well.

So this morning, all of our plans and organization came to fruition and by 1:30pm all 120 something students and staff arrived without incident at the Orlando airport. Greg called me earlier and said that everyone was enjoying Hollywood studios. I am so happy that everything is going so well, but as you can imagine it is bittersweet. I had really been looking forward to going with this wonderful group of young people. This class of freshman are wonderful and I love being around them. It's also a chance to spend some quality time with the seniors who have been with us for 4 years and will now be leaving us for college. I will dearly miss all of the amazing experiences that they will share. I asked them in a letter that Greg read to them to please take a lot of pictures and write down any funny stories for me so I can feel like I was part of it.

Tommorow will be performance da for the kids. The Kickline and Color Guard will be competing early and then the entire marching band will be marching down Main Street in Magic Kingdom. The Band will be competing on Saturday morning at Hollywood studios and on Snday, the entire group will finish their trip in Universal Studios, Thank yo to all of my amazing co-workers who have given up their weekend to be with our students. I wisj you all the best trip. It kills me not to be there, but I'll get through it and I hope to go to school to congratulate everyone as soon as I can. I am most thankful for my good buddy, Greg who has done an amazing job of picking up the pieces since I left. I've texted him so many times how I wish I could just come back to work, bring us in a cup of tea and a bagel and enjoy the day together like always. He and I will come out of this even closer than we already are. He is a brother to me.

Tomorrow we go to the Commack, NY Sloan-Kettering center where we will meet with my Neuro-oncologist (it's tough to even put that word in writing) Dr. Nolan. He will be the one to keep up with my progress in terms of MRI scans and any additional medical intervention I will need for the treatment of the remainder of the tumor. We have a lot of questions for him and most of them I am afraid to even confront at this point. I definitely have fears about some of the answers. I will pray and I have faith that God will get me though this and I will emerge from this much stronger than ever. I really love hearing that so many people are reading this blog. I know this was a long one, but it really helps me process and get in touch with my feelings...you know I am a guy and all! Apparently many in the community I don't even know are reading. I think my wife should start her own, giving her perspective of the past few weeks and then maybe one day we can write a book. Alright, maybe that's a bit much. Love to all and keep the prayers coming. I'll update you on how my apointment goes tomorrow. I know that the readers cannot post any messages to me, but if you feel the need to contact me, you may do so at jmlasher@optonline.net. Good night!