This past week I attended my high school band's annual dinner to celebrate the band's year, from marching band to symphonic band to additional ensembles to the annual band trip. However, this year was a little different for me. It was the first year that I was attending as an alumni. I watched kids be called up that I didn't know, and I watched the kids that I have grown close to since their freshman year attend their final band dinner. Sometimes my family makes fun of me for the way I talk about kids, but I have truly watch these kids grow up these last 4 years and I couldn't be more proud of how they've grown and all they've accomplished.

Band has always been a part of me and my life. My sister was in the marching band in high school and college and I was 2, almost 3 when she started high school. I then started playing piano in first grade and evolved over the years until I ended up in the percussion section of my high school's symphonic band. Now I was a cheerleader in high school and broke a lot of the stereotypes that are out there about band and cheerleaders. I was a member of the band all four years in high school and am so happy I stuck with it.

The band truly became a part of my family and I can't imagine my life without them. I was a very shy freshman, coming from a catholic school and not knowing many people, and really band broke me out of my shell. I met some amazing people, people that I still talk to today, and some of my closest friends. They have been there for me through some really rough times, but also really great times. And I have also been there for them through everything life can throw at us. And through it all we only get stronger and closer to one another.

My four years in band provided some great opportunities and memories. I traveled to Walt Disney World, Pittsburgh and Boston with the band, attended a performance by the New York Symphony and the Boston Pops, marched through Walt Disney World, and played in countless band concerts that were always interesting behind the scenes. Not to mention the number of people I have met over the years who made my high school years some of the best. I met several of my best guy friends in band and where I first met my best girl friend.

When I joined the band my freshman year, I didn't think it would end up meaning nearly as much as it does now. I figured I would just go to class every day and get the credit. Instead it became so much more. It became one of my favorite classes, one of the best parts about football games (besides performing myself), and some of my favorite people to see in the hallways. The countless pictures, memories, and endless jokes will last me a lifetime. Band truly helped make me the person I am today and I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunities I was given and the people that I met.

At the band dinner, one of the directors shared a poem called "The Last Band Room Visit"" and hit surprisingly close to home.

Thank you to both of my high school's band rooms, for seeing the good days and the bad, seeing the tears and the smiles, and for hearing all the fights, complaints, and cheers.

I guess I'll just close with some advice you've heard a million times:

Take advantage of every opportunity that's thrown your way, and don't take a single moment for granted. Because one day it will be your last, and only then will you realize how much certain people and places mean to you.