And the Band Played On

This is a photo we took of the band playing for the families after winning the Idaho State University Invitational in Pocatello, Idaho on Saturday, October 10, 2009. Jumble is (tiny) near the center of the photo behind the percussion and drums, and in front of the tubas. Niles was trying to zoom in on her for another photo but we are still trying to figure out our new camera and couldn't get it to focus on zoom. But she's in there, trust us! This was the last photo we have of the band before everything changed.




On Tuesday night, Jumble's band participated in the Rocky Mountain Invitational at Lavell Edwards Stadium at BYU. At first we thought they would not be able to make it to the competition. But by Sunday night, with only one student still in the hospital, and with no one seriously injured, they decided that they could do it--and that Heather would be mad at them for not doing it because of her!



They changed the end of the program a little. They added a photo of Heather to the photos of veterans on display, and also added the scripture from John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

There were some very nervous kids on the woodwinds bus, but they faced their fears and went. All of the bands in the area (actually in the nation, too) have been so sweet to our kids. They were all wearing red ribbons on their uniforms and had red ribbons on their buses. Jumble said that all of the band members were able to keep their composure during the performance, but as soon as they finished playing they all began crying as they left the field. All but four of them were able to march and play. The four that couldn't march played from the sidelines.


Many students at many schools in Utah wore red and black on Monday and Tuesday to show support for our school. Many students also wore red ribbons to show their love and support for our band. This is Jaron Idso, our friend from Arizona who marches with Sky View Band from Smithfield, UT (near Logan.)



One of the buses with red ribbons in memory of Heather.

As the band marched into the stadium before their performance, everyone in the stadium cheered and cheered. Except me--I cried. It was so overwhelming to see them all marching in, alive and well. They were all there--it's a miracle. I already knew it was a miracle and reading this news report only confirmed it:

Rescue worker says seconds made the difference


"One of the rescue workers at the crash scene agrees with the students, saying he believes if the crash happened one second sooner or later the outcome would have been much worse.

"A rescue worker says had the bus hit this pile of lava rocks, the outcome of the crash would have been much worse
Volunteer firefighter Gregg Mix of Inkom, Idaho, sent KSL News pictures, tracing the bus' path. In an e-mail, Mix wrote: "...the bus threaded the needle between the rock pile and the viaduct drop off..."
"The bus went right between an outcropping of lava rock, and a 12-foot embankment--a cattle viaduct. According to Mix, hitting either at full speed would have meant greater disaster.
"It is a miracle that this bus took the only path possible to avoid a great tragedy," Mix wrote.




The performance was amazing. I was literally shaking from head to foot through the entire performance. Afterwards, the BYU marching band performed. For their last song, they played "Amazing Grace" especially for American Fork band. The BYU band also presented our band with a beautiful floral arrangement. Shortly after the BYU band finished their performance, and before the awards ceremony, a flock of white doves suddenly flew into the stadium and flew over where our band was sitting. No one seems to know where they came from.

Here's a few more photos from Tuesday night:

Jaron Idso and his family met up with Jumble after the performance and gave her some flowers. They also delivered a gift from the Sky View Band lower bass section leader--a big Symphony chocolate bar. Jumble has that funny hat cover on because it was raining and they are required to keep the real ostrich feathers on their hats dry! (Why they trim marching band hats with something that gets ruined by rain is beyond me.) The yellow across the bridge of Jumble's nose and under both of her eyes is one big bruise from hitting her nose during the accident. At least the swelling is gone.

The American Fork marching band invited all of the other bands to join us for hot chocolate after the performance as a way to say "Thank you" for all of the cards, flowers, gifts, messages, etc. that were sent. This is Niles helping with his Band Dad duties.

This is Jumble after we returned home that night with some of the many flowers, treats, cards, and gifts that so many people have given her. We also had two of our wonderful neighbors bring us dinner on Monday and Tuesday nights. Everyone has been so kind to us. We really appreciate it.



American Fork was awarded Outstanding Performance in all four areas--Music, Visual, Color Guard, and Percussion. They also took 1st overall in their division. It's never been about winning, it's always been about doing your best. Tuesday night they especially didn't care about winning, they just wanted to play their best for Heather.