MEMORIES FROM THE CHICAGO CONNECTION
1977, 1978, 1979
LOWELL THOMAS

The Chicago Connection Yearbooks 1978

You know you're in a Senior Corps when ...
You're at the consenting age.
You have to find a babysitter.
You shoot for twelfth place.
You have completely run out of beer, etc.
You have to take up a collection to pay for towing charges when the bus gets stuck
You get dragged through the mud.
EVERYBODY is the instructor, manager, director
The drum instructor is also quartermaster.
You keep asking yourself "why"?
You're out of breath 1/2 way through the opener.
The air conditioning is out and you're so stupid you don't care.
You get your first social security check.
You have your very own "What Family".
Members miss turnouts and get away with it.
The crowd forgets to applaud.
EVERYBODY knows EVERYTHING.
The equipment truck never leaves Wheeling.
You don't have to be married to share a room with your boyfriend.
All Your summer vacation time is planned for you.
You come home with a hangover from corps trips.
The bus smells.
Corps members stand on the side line taking pictures of the show.
There is no straight bus.
You pay to go to the banquet.
Tours are three days long.
The corps supports itself.
Camp is held at the regular rehearsal site.
You do standstill exhibitions for deaf people to raise money.
You crash Bourbon Street.
The police show up at practice.
You pull into a Howard Johnson's.
You don't get home from practice until 4:00 in the morning!
You have co-ed hotel rooms.
You can drink on the bus (legally)
The judges are younger than you
The instructors march
There's no hair on your head to pin your hat to
Marriage and divorce rates go up
Your first contest is in July
You have to wear a girdle under your uniform
You polish your head instead of your bucks
You cook your own meals at restaurants
You don't have a quartermaster
There are no curfews
You get one week-end off a month
Your tours are three days long
You don't have to sleep on gym floors
Getting up for the show isn't spiritual
The whole show is in 4/4
The skirts have to cover vericose veins
The average age is middle age
When your kids are marching next to you
There's no stadium for the show
There aren't any chaparones
The instructors are younger than you
You can't make practice because your grandchildren are visiting
You have to clean your dentures before a show
Your kids are watching the show
The horn players are given oxygen after a show
You don't sleep on the floor of the bus or in the overhead racks
The only Corps older than yours is the Muchachos