The beekeeping spot was just a little open clearing in the woods, with a small gray, brick bench in the middle with tall weeds surrounding the back of it. Under the bench was a metal box with latches that had paper with signatures of kids that had been there before, and random other treasures, like a really old granola bar to add humor to the capsule. I never exactly knew why it was called the beekeeping spot, maybe because there might be a bees nest nearby. It was far into the woods, and took several hills to climb to get there, but once you got up there, it was worth it. I had only been there once with my section during the day for sectionals, but what I was about to find out was, that at night, it was even more amazing.

After marching band practice was over around 9:30 at night, everyone went down to the beach for the fire and s’mores. I was with Leo and a bunch of my other friends, and I had grabbed a couple pieces of chocolate and sat down around the fire with everyone. Leo was a senior in my section, and I’d known him for longer than any of the other seniors in my section because he lives by me, and I also knew him through my lesson teacher. He and his friend, Andrew, came up to me after a while and asked,

“Do you want to go to the beekeeping spot with us? We’re going to practice our senior speeches. Will and a couple other people are going to be there too.” I tried to argue that I didn’t really want to go because my feet were super sore from being on them since 6:30 in the morning, and I could barely even stand, but they finally convinced me to come. Looking back on my decision now, I’m so glad I did, because what I was about to experience would make it worth it.

Will, who is the section leader of my section, and his friends Alex, Alan, Hannah and Tyler were walking way ahead of Leo, Andrew and I. This was the first time I’d met Andrew, but I knew he played trombone, and that he was a junior, along with Tyler. Alex was in pit, and was a senior, Hannah played piccolo, and was also a senior, and Alan also played trombone and was a senior. I didn’t know any of them very well at all, but at the end of the year, I would be really good friends with all of them.

Leo, Andrew and I started the hike up to the beekeeping spot in the pitch black woods, with only our phone flashlights to guide us. I was walking in between them, Leo on my left and Andrew on my right. The sound of the crunching of dead leaves and branches filled the silence of the summer night, along with the chirping of crickets and the sound of our laughter. 

When we finally got there, none of the others were in sight.

“They’re probably hiding in the woods trying to scare us.” Leo predicted. Sure enough, all of them jumped out and screamed at us after he had finished his sentence. I couldn’t help but jump a little, even though I was expecting it, and I saw Leo look over at me with amusement in his eyes.

“Oh, shut up.” I nudged him and laughed.
“Crap, I probably got poison ivy.” Will said, as he walked towards us.
“I already have it.” Hannah added with another laugh.

Hannah and I sat on the ground, while everyone else sat on the bench. Alex stood up to recite his senior speech first.

While he was reciting it, I realized I was the only freshman here. I always thought hanging out with older kids when I was younger was scary, because I thought they’d be mean, or that they’d not like me, but marching band has changed that for me. It made me realize that age doesn’t really matter to anyone here at band camp, we’re all friends and we all help each other out while having loads of fun. Everyone is all one, and we work together. That’s one of the reason’s why I love marching band so much.

Alex’s speech was so well put together, it was inspiring, how he said he remembered sitting here just like us, remembering what his speech was going to sound like. He thanked all of the band directors too, and how he wouldn’t be there without them.

I glanced up at the sky for a moment while Alex was reciting his speech, and my breath caught in my throat. It was the only open space that you could actually see the sky in the woods, and it was absolutely amazing. Every single inch of the pitch black sky was covered in a bright white star, everyone a different size. They made all types shapes in the sky, and the whole clearing seemed to be lit up just from those stars. There weren’t any words in this world to describe how amazing it looked from down here on the grass. To think I was just a tiny little speck in this huge universe, 1 out of 7.5 billion people, 9 planets, and an unknown amount of universes beyond ours. I couldn’t stop staring at them, I’d never seen so many stars in my whole life.

I thought about what my senior speech was going to be like at band camp when I was a senior, and I knew I wanted to go up here every time we were at band camp during the night, and show the rookies next year, and all of the years to come, because they needed to experience this too.

One thing that still surprises me to this day is that I remember the last sentence that Alex recited in his speech. ‘Viva la drumline’. I still don’t know why it stuck with me, because I’ve never even been interested in pit or percussion, but it stuck, and I still remember that that was the last sentence in his speech at the beekeeping spot, and for the real speech on the last day of camp. 

I never wanted the night to end. I didn’t want the stars to go away. I didn’t ever want the seniors to leave. I wanted this moment to freeze in time so it could last forever.