This One Time At Band Camp...

Hey friends. Remember that one time I was 13 and I fell down the stairs and broke my ankle and had to go to the hospital to get a boot put on it? And remember how a few hours later that night I had a meeting for high school marching band? And I didn't really want to go. My ankle hurt. I was tired. I was grumpy. My mom dragged my to my future high school band room for a meeting.

Remember that one time I was 13 and it was 8am but it felt like 1am and I was on a high school track being made to stand with feet together, stomach in, chest out, shoulders down, chin up, eyes with pride? I wasn't so willing to be told by a guy I'd never met before to stand at attention at his beck and call.

Remember that one time I was 14 and I won my first band competition?

Remember that one time I was 15 and we won lots of band competitions?

Remember that one time I was 16 and we swept every competition?

Remember that one time I was 17 and I was the drum major (director) for marching band?

Remember that one time this week when I went to band camp every day and I got really really burnt and my feet hurt and I'm covered in bruises and I'm emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted?

My name is Lara and I'm a band nerd. I'm proud of that.

I couldn't compress the last three days into a series of books, let alone a blog post, and we still have one more week. So I'm just going to give you bits and pieces.

This one time at band camp I ate a can of pineapple for lunch because I didn't have time to make anything resembling a lunch before I had to leave to camp.

This one time at band camp I was riding my scooter to a trax stop, and a crazy pedestrian lady yelled at me saying she had the right of way on sidewalks.

This one time at band camp we had a bbq for rookies (the Rookie Roast!) and my wonderful friends made me a veggie burger because they love me like that.

This one time at band camp we learned all of pre-game with only 3 days of marching and practice.

This one time at band camp we played freeze tag to get warmed up for the day, and the sound system played yackety sax while people dived between other people's legs to unfreeze them.

This one time at band camp we got to be pretty good friends because that's what happens when you dive between someone's legs to unfreeze them.

This one time at band camp my dear friend taught me how to use nun-chucks.

Yep. There's lots more. But I need to get re-acquainted with sleep. We haven't had time together for a long time.