So, Mom.

There we were at Danny's graduation. Naturally it was held in the football stadium since there were like 500 kids graduating. The weather was "iffy" but we were seated way up in the nosebleed seats, but under the overhang from the press box and we had an umbrella.

So the high school orchestra plays a few things -- stuff like Rodger and Hammerstein and even older music -- and the music wins, as usual. Then the graduates, resplendent in their gowns of white and blue (white for the of-course virginal girls and blue for boys) marched to their chairs to the strains of Elgar's "Poopin' Circumstance:" da dada da da daa, da dada da deee...over and over and over and over until every bit of pity I had went out to the musicians, who I knew had grown to had Elgar and everything he stood for, his family, his ancestors, his descendants, and everything and everyone associated with him.

Finally the grads were seated and the thing began. Speakers spoke, the Salutarian saluted and the Valedictorian maledicted and in general the grads were told that a chapter of their life had closed and new chapters were opening to them and that whatever they did in the future would reflect back on the Good Old High School Where They Spent The Happiest Days Of Their Lifes. That some were going into the military and some to college and some to McDonald's (not in QUITE those words, but get my drift).

Anyway, after it all was over the last grad walked onto the stage and received her diploma...assisted by two BIG boys, for she has cerebral palsy and this was only the second time in her life she'd walked in public and the applause was a standing ovation.

So the show was over and the field filled with family and friends taking pictures and the band was playing some 1970s rock stuff when the rain came.

We were under the stands, so we didn't get wet. But in Western Illinois the rain can REALLY come down, and this was not just a cloudburst or a frog-strangler, this was like God turned on a firehose. It didn't last long, but it was tragic. The tuba player and two oboists drowned when their instruments filled with water -- the tuba player couldn't drain the stuff via his spit valves fast enough. The funerals were yesterday and they will be buried under the Band Room at the High School later this week.