The Saturday after Josiah’s college family day was Abby’s college family day at Bridgewater. Gabe was in attendance for this day as he needed to buy the much sought after “truckers hat” that is the rage amongst the students at Abby’s college. The truckers hat is second only to the camouflage shirt (with the Bridgewater logo) as the most popular item purchased at the bookstore. Abby informed us that when a new shipment of camo shirts arrive, the news spreads like wildfire throughout the campus.
Abby’s roommate was asleep when we arrived so within a week, I had the opportunity to walk in on both my children’s sleeping roommates. It’s fun being the embarrassing parent. Just ask Dale. He has an entire repertoire of “How to embarrass my kids.”
Abbygirl in her Roxy flip flops may seem a bit out of her element in the mountains, but she is shining non-the-less. After arrival at Bridgewater, Abby decided to follow her usual pattern and join everything. We heard her play with the bell choir and pep band and admired her improved frisbee playing ability. (She joined the ultimate frisbee team.)
When I informed my sister, Marie, that Abby had joined the ultimate frisbee team, Marie laughed and laughed and laughed.
Admittedly, we Manrys don’t have impressive college sport careers – quidditch and ultimate frisbee – but we are proud of our kids confidence to get out there and give it a go. Once the other two go to college, we expect Gabe to make the competitive chess team and we are already training Zeke to become a cornhole captain.
The family day music concert was wonderful. Abby played her bells to perfection, her only error was her inability to put her gloves on quickly. After the bell choir’s rendition of “This little light of mine,” the gospel choir made us all happy with their joyful singing. The A cappella choir, chorale, organist, jazz ensemble, and trombone quartet were all terrific. The acoustics were wonderful in the chapel. We all enjoyed the concert very much.
Later in the evening, the pep band stole the show at the football game. Abby spent as much time jumping up and down and yelling as she did playing the flute. Zeke’s favorite part was when the pep band beep-beep-beeped when a penalty backed up the opposing team. The drum line was pounding, the horns were blowing, and everyone was singing along to the Bridgewater fight song, including Dale who made up his own words. That’s nothing new for Dale. He is constantly making up words for songs he can’t remember. Occasionally he resorts to “watermelon, watermelon, watermelon.”
