Marching Band. Yeah. Marching Band.

My husband Wesley and I were both in marching band in high school; he played the trumpet, and I was on drumline. For us, band was the only thing that existed. Okay, maybe not the only thing, but certainly the main thing. Probably the first thought that pops into your head as you read this is, "This one time, at band camp..." We are all accutely aware of the stereotypes that go along with being in band. Enough, I get it, we're dorks. Got the memo.

What people don't realize sometimes is that band, to the people that are in it, is kind of like a fraternity. You see your bandmates more than your friends or family, and you tend to gravitate toward making most of your friends in band because, frankly, that's the only way you'll have time to have friends at all. It should also be noted that there is intense emotional bonding in marching band. Although many people view the band as a not-so-noteworthy accessory to the football team, there actually is a huge subculture in which people make large sums of money writing music, show concepts, drill (where you march on the field), and the like. Contests are taken very seriously; the intensity of the competitive environment surrounding marching band might be surprising to an outsider.

Why is it such a big deal? Because when you spend five to eight exhausting hours a day developing your talent, with the same group of people, working toward the same goal, you become emotionally invested. It can't be helped - the rehearsal schedule and demands tend to force out the ones who really don't want to be there.

Many people in America love to watch Sunday football. Or is it Saturday football? Wait, wasn't there a Monday night football at one point? I don't know; the point is, I don't get all you sports fans. I don't find watching sports any more entertaining than I would find watching people work out in a gym. It's really hard for me to understand and empathize with people who are genuinely upset over "their" team's loss; I'm not trying to say that their feelings are invalid, I just truly cannot relate (probably the same way most of you would not be able to grasp why someone would pay ten dollars to watch a marching band contest).

This makes me the odd person out most of the time - especially at work, where every single one of my colleagues is a football fanatic. In fact, I have one co-worker who actually buys a new outfit in her team's colors every week in honor of the game - whether she is physically at the game or watching it at home! To be fair, it is the team where she went to college, but come on... really?

August through December are usually very lonely months for me at work because I can't really participate in sports discussions. Occasionally, someone will pop over and ask if I'm going to watch the game this weekend, to which I usually respond, "No. In fact, I don't think it would be physically possible for me to care about football or any sport less than I do at this very moment." Am I taking crazy pills here? Surely I'm not the only one in America who feels this way. I'm sure my attitude about the whole thing is quite offputting, but LBH (let's be honest) - would any of you want to stand around and talk about the drum break before the closing number or so-and-so's new uniforms? Probably not.

Perhaps my aversion to football and sports as a whole is based on how athletically deficient I've always been; I wanted to play sports as a child, but not only did I not (and still do not) understand all of the rules for how the games are played, I felt extremely awkward running or doing any physical activity in front of other people (PE was a nightmare).

This may be why I always gravitated more toward the arts - music in particular. You sports people have football season, we band dorks have marching season. You watch games, we watch shows. You have fantasy football, we have... well, there isn't such a thing as fantasy band, but you get the idea.

Going to marching band contests is quite nostalgic for Wesley and me; we met through band when we were juniors in high school. For us and most other former marching band/drum corps participants, keeping up with our favorite schools' bands keeps us connected with something that helped shape us into who we are. It's not just the performance aspect, it's also the lasting friendships we found, the senses of humor we cultivated, the leadership skills we developed, and the culture and community bonds we created.

Basically, if loving marching band is wrong, then I just don't want to be right.