Wada Legacy

As stated in the past, one of the benefits of having Jeff at home is that he helps out with Jared. He drives him to school, checks up on his homework, monitors his computer usage and even put parental controls on the tv in his (Jeff's) room. Jared is the typical 3rd child that has to follow in his brothers' footsteps. In his case it is more like good cop, bad cop with Jeff and Jordan. He often reaps benefits from his brothers, but then occasionally rebels. For example as with his brothers, he is called "Wada" at school by both the students and faculty. For some reason that bothers him as he prefers Jared.

You would think the span of 6 and 8 years difference in age between him and his brothers would be to his advantage. Apparently not. Most of his teachers remember Jeff and Jordan. Most of the time that is positive and he is coerced into living up to or exceeding his brothers past impressions.

In band, he is know as Little Wada. When Jordan was in his senior year and the Drum Major, the summer after graduation the band went to Europe for 2 weeks. Auntie Judy took Jared on the tour with Jordan and the band. Therefore the freshmen of that year remember him as Little Wada. Those freshmen are now seniors. Just when Jared thought he had made it through to a point of establishing himself outside of the shadow of Jordan came the last football game.

For those of you not familiar with Marching Band, they perform at competitions as well as at all home football games during half time. The tradition at West is at the last home game, any former Drum Major gets a turn at leading the band. Now when Jordan was Drum Major, he made his impression in many ways. One was his conducting during the performance. He would climb onto a stand that was like a 8' step ladder with a thin rail in front of him just below his waist. As he conducted, his whole body and the stand would sway with the rhythm. At each performance Gayle and I would worry the stand would collapse or tip over.

As Jordan got up to conduct at the last football game, they were chanting "Wada". Jordan quickly resumed his Drum Major demeanor and proceeded to conduct the band in what is hard to describe. He not only swayed with the rhythm, but it turned into a semi dance performance in front of the band and football crowd. Up until this time, the band's performance was pretty passive. But they quickly picked up the pace and had a lot of fun with the music. You can see it on You Tube (Jordan Wada Conducting), but you will notice that the person recording it was laughing so hard, it is hard to see. A better version is on Jordan's Facebook page.

Gayle and I went from "Uh Ohhhh" to bending in laughter. Of course the expression from Jared's face was familiar. From that point on, Jared's fate was sealed until he graduates at West high as "Little Wada".