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RICHLAND -- Susan Arola of Richland is no kid.
She's just part of a marching band that thinks kids shouldn't have all the fun.
On Tuesday, she'll be twirling and tossing a flag just like she did when she attended Hanford High School and was part of the marching band color guard. She graduated in 1989.
But this time she'll be performing for President Barack Obama and his family in front of the reviewing stand in the inauguration parade.
She joined the Get A Life Marching Band of Portland when she was living in the city, and even though she moved back to the Tri-Cities in 2006, continues to perform with the band's color guard up to four times a year.
"I did it for all of high school," she said. "I would eat, drink and breathe color guard."
So it seemed like a good hobby to pick up again when she moved to Portland and wanted to make some friends.
She found a group of people from their 20s to their 60s who don't take themselves too seriously.
"Our members have three things in common," said band founder Bob Pulido on the group's website, www.getalifemb.org. "We were all in high school or college marching bands. We still haven't gotten over it. And we'd rather miss a note than a meal."
The band was one of 1,382 organizations that applied to be in the Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C. It got word only in late December that it would be replacing another group that had dropped out of the parade.
By then, hotel rooms and transportation had been snapped up in the city. But it was able to book rooms in Philadelphia and what may have been the last two Philadelphia motor coaches for the three-hour bus ride to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
The band believes part of its appeal to the organizers is the band's national reach. Most members live near Portland, but others, like Arola, will be traveling to the inauguration from Arizona, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota or Washington.
At the presidential reviewing stand the band will be performing a medley of We're an American Band to celebrate its national reach and Louie Louie to celebrate its Northwest home.
Arola, an assistant to the laboratory director and manager at Kadlec Medical Center, expects to practice the routine developed for Obama for the first time with the rest of the band and 8-member color guard at a staging area in Washington, D.C.
She has been rehearsing her routines for the parade with the help of a DVD sent by a band member. She's spent five or six hours practicing, and thinks she's good to go, except for her nerves.
"It's going to be great, but I'm so nervous," she said. "I've been on a rollercoaster of emotions -- excited, scared, nervous."
Performing for the president will be a great honor, she said. It's the millions of other people who will be watching that make her a little anxious.
If you want to watch for Arola on television, the Get A Life Marching Band says it will be the band having the most fun in the parade. It often has sing-alongs on parade routes or will single out someone for a "just for you" performance.
Or you can watch for the last band in the parade and the short blonde in the color guard.
"I'm hoping to have the time of my life," Arola said.
