After countless of hours of practicing in the parking lot, marching band contest season has finally come to an end. I get so excited just imagining a whole day of being lazy. Band is literally life for us; we practice every single day except for Sundays.

Playing an instrument and spinning a flag is challenging. Guard students, yes guard is a part of band, get offended when people say, “color-guard is not hard, all you do is twirl a flag.” Little do they know that our flags don’t “twirl” by themselves.

It is like saying band is not hard because all you do is press buttons. You have to prepare yourself for a performance and be in good shape for marching. It gets exhausting after a while, mentally and physically, but it’s a good thing we are only in season for three months.

Just like every sport there are pros and cons. We spend more time with band members than our relatives. That’s how much we’re constantly with each other. It’s okay because at the end, friends become closer and the entire band becomes your new temporary family.

After UIL we all get to go home after school with the exception of practice on Thursdays for football games and playoffs. It’s going to feel different to have a lot of time to waste, and I might even feel empty without practice every day.

It’s also going to be fun to hang out on a Saturday night with people who you don’t usually see every day. We had a successful season; our show was called “Falling,” and we put in our best for all of our competitions.

Even though we spend a month of our summer practicing in the hot sun and stay with band students all day for contests, I don’t regret being in band. You end up being best friends with people you never thought you could be, and you get in for free at football games. Sounds like a good deal to me.