The people I hold very dear to me are my band friends. We all met in band, and although some of us knew each other before the start of high school, we became closer after high school band. In the short time we’ve spent together, we’ve become inseparable. We laugh, cry, scream, run, jump, skip, and fall together. If I hadn’t met these amazing people, I definitely would’ve dropped band by now. Yet today I love to play music and strive to be better at the trumpet.

“The Great Bungee Incident” is a historic day none of us will forget, which took place in San Antonio at the river walk when we went to BOA (a very big marching band competition). It’s been named the bungee incident because my friend accidentally flashed the whole town of San Antonio while she was bungee jumping. After the San Antonio trip we got closer and that’s when we created our “Band Buds” group chat. We started hanging out more frequently, which led to our holiday hangouts. We had a spooky hangout for Halloween where we watched scary movies and baked. Then we had the classic secret Santa where we exchanged gifts, made cookies, and watched The Grinch. For Valentines, we gave each other gifts and we had to guess who it was from. We grew closer together through band organized events as well.

Another notable event was mulch day. We have to raise money, so what better way than mulch?It was a day filled with sexism because the guys said we weren’t strong enough to carry the bags, so we should just count them. Instead of being all sad about it, we turned it around. Rather than dudes asking us if we needed help, we asked if they needed help and created an all girl loading crew, which made us get the job done 10 times faster. 

The original “Band buds” were the five of us: me, Ashlyn, Kailey, Mara, and Isabel. But little did we know, our group would expand. One hangout, we decided to invite Mara’s friend Maya to our sleepover. April 21, 2023 Maya was an official member of band buds and we were happier than ever! 

One of our adventures that stuck with me is “The Hike.” This summer we decided to go on a hike at Twin Coves. We started off excited, but ended in exhaustion. We walked for a while until we saw somewhere to swim. There was a big cliff to jump off and me and Mara decided to jump off, swallowing our fear.  We dried off and decided to continue our journey. More than halfway through on the new path, Mara realized it led all the way to Grapevine instead. Hungry, thirsty and frustrated, we marched off and took one last dip in the lake. Mara and Ashlyn wanted to swim to the other side of the lake, but my body screamed in pain so I soon got out. 

The most recent event that happened was our breakfast journey. On our day off from band camp, we slept over at Mara’s, and in the morning, we wanted to go get breakfast. Mara suggested we walk to a restaurant as it wasn’t too far, or so we thought. We traveled in pajama pants and slippers. We felt as though we would turn to ashes. By the time we arrived at the breakfast place, we were sweating and as hungry as a pack of ravaging lions. 

All in all, I’m overjoyed I’m able to have this awesome friend group and experience our growth as people and friends. We all look forward to this marching season, as we will be performing side by side.