At the beginning of our contest season (Oh, so long ago!), after our VERY first contest, a member of the Steel band came up to congratulate us… With utter sincerity, he drawled, ”Ya’ll… were… so… BEAST!!!” And yes, for those who are unsure of the meaning, YES, that is a good thing. ;-)   Look how far we’ve come since then!!!!! WE WON THE 4A STATE COMPETITION!!!! OH MY GOSH!!! Ok, sorry, but I’m still SO incredibly happy for our win!! :-) From the beginning of the opener to the end of the closer, you could feel from the field, see from the field, and hear from the judges’ tapes that we had our best performance all year! Even if we hadn’t won, even if we didn’t make it, I would have been just as excited knowing that we had filled the request of Mr. Woods… To “march with our minds, play with our hearts, bare our souls, (and a new addition, just for state!) and they will love you like I love you!” (Way to go Mr. Woods…. almost making me cry before I go out to a FILMEd performance!) ;-) Just kidding!! All those hours, days, weeks, and months we’ve been focused on one thing… Being better every single day. Never winning, just being more focused, more advanced, more strong, more devoted than the day before. Now that the 7 and a half minutes I practically sold my soul to ;-) is over and will never be seen again, I come to realize something. Band is more than I’ve ever said it is. Band is more than I have the words to say. What I can say is, staying in this band was probably the best thing I’ve ever done. Ever. No over-exaggeration (and of those of you that know me, that does happen somewhat frequently) ;-) no lie, no fooling, no beating around the bush. THE Dripping Springs High School Band has been my outlet, my family, my daily dose of humor, my trial of strength, my one-heck-of-a-workout ;-) my buds, my stress source and reliever ;-) , and one of the things that can keep me smiling and laughing for days on end. I know for a fact my freshman year would be a completely different world without this amazing experience!! We did something on Tuesday night that not only I’ll remember for now, but something that I’ll tell my children and grandchildren about! The lessons that I’ll never forget, the morals I earned, the stupid mistakes that I gained experience from. Band is more than an extracurricular activity… It’s a lifestyle, a drug, a teacher, and more than anything, one of the coolest and most amazing things you’ll ever see or do. And again, this ALL leads you to believe that I’m being dramatic, over-excited, over-exaggerating, and just downright overstating. Nope, I sure ain’t. ;-)

BAND TEN HUT! HEY! Band, drill position of attention! Feet! Together! Stomach! In! Shoulders! Back! Chin! In! Head! Up! Eyes! With pride! Eyes! With pride! Eyes! With Pride!!