The Twilight Zone

“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Twilight Zone.”

I always think of this time before Tour as The Twilight Zone. We are a little less than half way through tour rehearsals, yet everything starts moving so fast at this point, we will be boarding the bus before we know it. The number of days before departure is shrinking, but the to-do list seems to be growing.

I managed to knock a few things off my list today. Following the conducting portion of today’s Assistant Drum Major auditions, I spent the rest of my morning overhauling my uniform locker. My change of season dry cleaning needed to be finished; clean the last of the whites and ceremonial coats from the summer season, and finish the pre-Tour dry cleaning before the uniform trunks arrive. My Service B shirts need the chevrons changed before I return in late November, and my Service A blouse needs new chevrons and an additional service stripe. I had drawers to purge of accumulated detritus of bygone Pat Openers, faded t-shirts, worn hosiery, expired hand warmers, and leftover buffalo jerky found buried beneath the expedition weight long underwear. Cleaning my locker was hardly a chore; Kristin kept me company by reorganizing her locker at the same time.

Arriving at home, I found two boxes waiting for me on the front porch. The largest was my shipment from Wild Idea Buffalo Company, with ten pounds of ground bison and four pounds of bison stew meat. (For those that may not be aware, bison is lower in fat and cholesterol than chicken breast. It is illegal to give bison any growth hormones, and this particular ranch field dresses their meat, so no bison ever see a slaughterhouse.) Now I can prepare and freeze chili, stew, bourguignon, meatballs, and meatloaf for John and Jamey to eat while I am on Tour. I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!

The very small box was what I had been looking forward to the most – my order from Minimus! I was thrilled by the small size of the box. Finding room on the bus for all the little goodies is not going to be a problem. I have enough Miracle Whip packets for tuna salad and chicken salad, sweet pickle relish, tiny bottles of olive oil, little packets of parmesan, Dove cleaning cloths (for the really hot concerts), a little bottle of laundry detergent, and my unexpectedly favorite discovery of organic natural peanut butter in single serving packets. No sodium, one gram of sugar – and no refrigeration required.

My husband laughed when he saw the box full of little packets, but he absolutely howled at the peanut butter. He has never quite understood why this choosy mother doesn’t choose Jif for herself, and apparently he thinks I have taken my OCD tendencies to a new level. On the other hand, I had to laugh when I read the bottom edge of the packet:

WARNING: May stick to roof of mouth.