dinner breaks

     During one marching season, my section became very
close. Unlike most other sections, when a dinner break
came, we didn’t go our separate ways. We would always go to
dinner together. It started out as a thing we did once in
awhile to promote section unity, but it soon turned out
that we couldn’t imagine eating dinner with anyone else.
Occasionally one had to do something or someone new would
join us, but the majority of the group was always together.
We had become such good friends that it was not uncommon to
see not just two or three of us, but the entire section
going out to the movies or hanging out at someone’s house.
Most of us had known the others for years, but it wasn’t
until that marching season that we all truly became
friends.
    More than half of us could drive, which made life a lot
easier. It was pretty simple for us to arrange rides for
the entire group to go somewhere. I’m convinced this played
a major role in the group becoming such good friends. It
made us entirely capable of doing things completely on our
own without depending on others for rides and such. Which
meant we could be completely spontaneous, this came in very
handy on several occasions when we needed to cheer someone
up or if none of us felt like going home. We literally
became a family, everyone could depend on everyone else to
be there if they needed someone. Hell we even saw each
other more than we saw our real families. Those of us that
could drive had known each other for years and were already
good friends. And so by constantly rotating who was riding
with whom and how many people were driving, the whole
section not only got to know each other as a group, but
also as individuals as well. I found that the drives to
various places were often more valuable than the events
that occurred there. They were chances to have real
discussions and help one another with problems. They were
chances for the intimate conversations that often fade into
the distance as the group grows. They were just great
opportunities to get to know the real person behind the
mask. Paul and I had known each other for over five years,
but we were never close until he started getting rides with
me that summer. 
      In the beginning he got as many rides from me as
anyone else did, but slowly he choose to be in my car more
and more, until it was assumed he’d get shotgun. Paul had
always been just part of the section to me. Until that
year, the section was composed of several pairs of best
friends that never mingled except under the pretense of
band or band related activities. Everyone else in my grade,
which composed the majority of the section, shared the
occasional class with me so they had become friends and not
just band members, while Paul remained as just that guy I
know from band. That year was the first year I ever had a
class other than band with Paul. As circumstance would have
it we also had free periods at the same time, which we of
course spent in the band room or somewhere between it and
the cafeteria. So by mid-September we spent all our free
time together, barring time spent sleeping, even that
wasn’t a steadfast rule. Anyone who has ever been in a
marching band knows that between band and school there is
almost no free time, so needless to say those dinner breaks
became that much more special. 
    As the season progressed the group did more and more
things together, farther and farther from band. We’d go to
the movies on the few Saturdays that we didn’t have to
march or have parties at various people’s houses even when
we did. We had become a group of friends who happened to be
in the same section. The onslaught of these activities gave
Paul and me more opportunities to get to know each other,
so that by the time mid-November had rolled around and
marching season had ended, we acted as though we had been
friends forever. Almost every afternoon we did something
together, even when one of us had to work and didn’t have
much spare time, even then we found a way to spend sometime
together. Often it would be a simple ride home, but
whatever amount of time it was, was always valued because
we knew as seniors our time was limited.
        Shortly after the marching season had ended, jazz
band started up and with this the opportunity for more
dinner breaks came. Since neither of our parents were home
by the time Jazz band started and Paul still didn’t have
his license, we decided I’d pick him up early and we’d go
out to dinner before going to Jazz. So three times a week
before rehearsal we’d have the dinner breaks that we had
begun to miss since the end of marching season. Sometimes
it was fast food that we ate sitting in the hallway before
everyone arrived and sometimes it was actual food from a
real restaurant. I liked those best because we’d sit around
talking and joking and never felt rushed. (Which sometimes
was a problem because we wouldn’t show up on time for
practice, but we never minded too much.) At some point we
started having dinner even when we didn’t have rehearsal or
some place to be. It soon seemed like we only ever ate
dinner together and couldn’t imagine a time when we weren't
the best of friends. 
        Winter soon came and Paul got around to getting his
license, but we still met for dinner until we both became
too busy with school, work and time-demanding
organizations. Not to long after that, a month or so would
go by when we’d only say hi in the hallways or pass the
occasional note in class. We still had Jazz band three
times a week, but there was no free time before or after it
to do something and our dinner breaks fell to the wayside. 
        Until one day when the snow fell in one huge
blanket covering the ground beneath six inches of snow
while we sat at our desks in school. Paul and I were
sitting in our last class of the day, watching as the snow
fell, praying that Jazz would be canceled for the night.
Class was soon over and we race down the hall toward the
band room, hoping that there would be a note on the door
that answered our prayers. There was. I don’t think either
of could have been any happier.
    As Paul and I strolled through the parking lot toward our
cars, we decided that we’d go out for dinner at my favorite
restaurant and we’d sit there and take hours to eat. It
seemed sweeter than any dinner break before it. I could see
in his eyes that I wasn’t the only one that really missed
meeting like this. The night was filled with funny jokes,
old stories and great food. We caught up with each other’s
lives and it was like old times again. That night we
decided that we were always going to find time to meet.
Maybe not everyday like in the beginning, but whenever we
could.

 Now months later, our lives have forever changed,
it’s fall once again and we are at different colleges, but
we still meet once in awhile for dinner because there is
nothing we love more than dinner breaks spent together.