As you all know, we’re big Husker fans around here.

But what you might not know is that my husband and I met at the University of Nebraska.

In the marching band.

And I am very proud of that.

Yep, that’s us. By the time this picture was taken, we were both drum majors (conductors) for the band and we were engaged.

If you’ve never been to a college football game, the drum majors usually have to do some sort of pageantry during the pregame ceremonies. Ours involved walking from the corners of the field to the middle “N,” leaning back and kicking our legs as high as possible as we walked.

Thankfully I have no pictures of this. And yes, it was as painful as it sounds.

We also conducted the band on the field and in the stands for every home football game.

Lil’ Red decided to help me out here.

Marching band was an amazing experience. I played clarinet for three years before becoming a drum major. The hubby was on trombone before three years as a drum major. It’s a miracle that we ever got married – brass and woodwinds don’t often mix 🙂

We traveled all over the country to bowl games, including the National Championship at the Rose Bowl. We even made it to Ireland to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin. We started dating during that trip. On St. Patrick’s Day. Isn’t that cute?!

So when we go to games now, sure I take pictures of the team and the crowd – because the Sea of Red is an incredible sight – but I always have to take some pictures of the band to remember the days of…

playing the National Anthem…

forming the Nebraska “N”…

spelling out HUSKERS…

making the “tunnel” for the team to run through…

and playing “There is No Place Like Nebraska” after a touchdown…

all in front of 80,000 people.

Oh and by the way, the first time I ever went to a game was also the first time I ever stepped foot on the field as a member of the marching band. I couldn’t hear anything over the roar of the crowd. I didn’t play my instrument through all of pregame. I didn’t want to miss my spots on the field. Talk about intimidating!

And totally awesome. Every minute of it.