Aloha!
Well, if you’re reading this it means the tour has ended and
the boys should be pretty close to making it home to their own beds
tonight. I doubt they are too interested
in sleeping right away though with all of the stories they have to share. It’s been a fantastic tour and I cannot begin
to describe the personal growth, both physically and emotionally, that has
taken place in only 18 long days. This has been anything but a vacation for
these boys with thirteen performances along the way and the majority of every
day in the public eye on their best behavior.
These boys have done a terrific job this year. We had our share of lost teeth, lost
toothbrushes and a lost hat or eight along the way, but each time was used as a
learning experience. The boys rarely
made the same mistakes twice and improved everyday along our trip. In the coming days, the stories will trickle
out about the jellyfish at the ocean, the head rush they got from eating ice
cream at the Blue Bunny museum too fast or the incredible size of the Saturn V
rocket. With all of the things these
boys have seen over the past eighteen days, it will take much more than a few days
to tell all of the stories. This is why
we journal – it’s just too many good memories to remember all at once.
Of course, we cannot possibly go on these concert tours
without the amazing support year-round from our families and friends. The moms and dads that shuttled them back and
forth to rehearsals, the brothers and sisters that we had to leave behind and
buy souvenirs for that sometimes break before we get home, and the literally
thousands of people that slap them on the back and tell them you are proud of
them. It takes everyone to make this
work and we truly appreciate everything that has been sacrificed to make this
happen.
Our hope is that the skills they learned stick for a few
weeks so they can show you at home how they put their napkins on their laps,
hold the door for others, and clean-up their rooms without complaining. They have proven they know how to be great
young men and I speak for the entire staff when I tell you the staff is very
impressed with the job they did.
Enough blubbery stuff.
This morning went very smooth. Technically,
from Josh E.’s morning report the word of the day was supposed to be “hugs” but
I think “smooth” is more like it. It
started when we woke them up this morning, right through breakfast, and onto
the bus which I don’t think has ever run as effortlessly than today. (We had amazing roads, great tires, a full
tank of fuel and a tailwind. Perfect
situation for driving.) To my knowledge,
only one item was left in the hotel room and I have a very very good feeling it
just got packed in his suitcase (his hat).
The boys were unusually quiet this morning as well, which was nice. I made my rounds to check on them and they
all seemed to be very content and comfortable.
It was fun.
For lunch, we called ahead to “Denny’s” and they were ready
for us the moment we walked in. A lot of
the boys ordered breakfast for lunch.
They thought that was pretty cool.
I thought that was cheaper. J After lunch, we began
rest period. The timing of the rest
stops weren't great today, about 20 minutes sooner than I would've liked, so we
had to cut it a little short. A lot of
the boys asked if they could continue napping after rest period. We put in “How the States Got Their Shapes”
and finished the series. Stewart was
lobbying very hard to watch “Space Jam”, but I didn’t think the boys deserved
to end the tour on such a low note.
We packed all of our things on the bus as we rolled through
Maple Grove and Rogers. The boys have
kept things pretty clean this year on the bus which makes this part of the tour
much easier. With Rodney looking to head
to his own home sooner rather than later, we tried to get everything ready that
we would need for the concert ahead of time so he could do that. That is no easy task, but the boys know the
routine well enough to make it happen.
As we rolled towards Nowthen, the boys were getting very
anxious to see their loved ones. Some of
the younger ones were fidgeting a lot in anticipation of their first Homecoming
arrival. There is really nothing that
compares to the feeling you get of coming home triumphantly after a long
concert tour like this. The banners,
signs and balloons help to make a great occasion ever greater.
Other than a few rain drops and being a couple minutes late,
the arrival was perfect. It was
wonderful to see all of the families, including my own wife that I tend to have
some feelings for. (I think she’s “the
one”.) After hugging our mommies, the
boys turned in their gear and received their cowboy hats and some other items
from the tour. Then it was off to dinner
to eat some delicious food and catch-up with the families. A lot of smiles and laughter was overheard
which is always wonderful to see.
The concert went very well, probably one of the best of the
tour. Aaron kept it short and sweet,
talking only when he needed to. Since
much of the talking during a usual concert is educating new fans about the organization, we passed
over that part of the program. The boys
put a lot of energy into the concert and it showed. It was a great night.
To finish off the evening, we had a few awards to
hand-out. Jeremiah Shoemaker was
selected as “Most Musical” this year. He
did a tremendous job on tour and was very deserving of this award. Joel Zimmerman took home the “Most Improved”
Award. Over the past couple of seasons
he has worked very hard to continue to improve and had blossomed into a great
young man. The big award of the evening
was the “Choirboy of the Year”, which was taken by Head Chorister Jacob
Gordon. With all of the awards, it is
generally a difficult decision, but with all of the experience and great young
men in the organization, this was an especially tough year for awards. Congratulations to all of the boys this year.
The toughest part of the evening each year is the task of
presenting our graduates with their plaques.
Many of these boys will spend 1,000’s of hours over the years with our
staff as the grow into musicians and fine young men. Sending them out from their days as a
Choirboy can come with a lot of emotion.
Congratulations to all of our graduates.
We are very excited that more than half of them are excited about
joining our Men’s Chorus next season.
With their additions, more than 24 men are now in that choir. With a goal of 40 eventually, we are well on
our way to reaching that goal. Be sure
to check this choir out in the fall!
So that is it. An
incredible tour has come to a close.
Thank you all for following along and giving us great words of encouragement
along the way. There is still time to consider donating to our mileage
fundraiser which goes to support the tour the boys just took. You can still give here: http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Fund-The-Drive-Trying-To-Raise-1-For-Every-Mile
P.J., signing-off.
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