Well, anyway, you have to know ahead of time that Friday night I couldn't sleep. I was waiting for Daughter #1 to call for a ride home from work, and when the phone rang I thought it was the alarm and got up and started dressing before I heard Handsome Husband answer the alarm . . . er, I mean the phone. So I went back to bed, but I only had an hour left. I went to work and worked my 10.5 hours, then went home and made sure my stuff was laid out and went back to bed to catch 40 winks. But I was so nervous I really couldn't sleep..
Mostly, I just lay there with my eyes closed and worried about the tunes.
At 1630 I was on my way to Highland HS. I got there only seconds before PM Jason, 
and people started showing up thick and fast after that. We warmed up, did tuning of chanters and then drones(the one with the hair is Pipe Major Sean. He's making up for PM Jason, who by his own admission has a five-head--more extensive than a fourhead)and then gave a bunch of money to Aaron's mom (Aaron is the 6'7" piper whom I am standing next to in the warm-up picture) 
who went and got us pizza and we ate that and hoped we wouldn't puke it into our pipes due to nerves.
and people started showing up thick and fast after that. We warmed up, did tuning of chanters and then drones(the one with the hair is Pipe Major Sean. He's making up for PM Jason, who by his own admission has a five-head--more extensive than a fourhead)and then gave a bunch of money to Aaron's mom (Aaron is the 6'7" piper whom I am standing next to in the warm-up picture) 
who went and got us pizza and we ate that and hoped we wouldn't puke it into our pipes due to nerves. Standing behind the curtain in the dark in our two lines, listening to the 2 or 4 pipers coming down the aisle, I was praying I could get through this with no problem, especially Blue Bonnets. And then the curtain went up and we were on!
Kind Jack had taped the sets were were playing on the first row of seats in huge letters so for the first half I just went tune by tune, and getting them set in my head before we even started. and I DIDN'T LOOK AT THE AUDIENCE!! That messes you up every time. Plus the lights are extremely bright and will burn out your retinas or some awful thing.
So I played 4 sets in the first half, and 3 sets in the second half, 2 of which were playing with the Grade III! I did mess up a couple of times on the easy, Battle set, but in the 2nd halfwhen we played Blue Bonnets, the hardest one for me, I breezed through them both, no problem!
Afterward we played a couple sets in the foyer, and then the drum corps was asked to play their salute . . .That side view of the tall guy in the center background with a beard like Abe Lincoln is my baby brother, and he's talking to me there, I'm sort of facing the camera. 
He's almost bumping his head on the ceiling, he's that tall.
Afterward we played a couple sets in the foyer, and then the drum corps was asked to play their salute . . .That side view of the tall guy in the center background with a beard like Abe Lincoln is my baby brother, and he's talking to me there, I'm sort of facing the camera. 
He's almost bumping his head on the ceiling, he's that tall.The concert went marvelously. PM Jason's goal was to pull off a perfect concert, and it mostly was. The pipers rocked (mostly) and the drummers really rocked. Practice was cancelled last night so I haven't heard Words of Praise yet. I'm very happy with how it went.
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