Life. I believe that whatever age you may be, you cannot just sit back and watch the days pass by. Life is far too short to waste like that. When I think about seizing the moments in life, one particular weekend comes to mind.

I became a member of the Wakefield High School Marching Band in my freshman year. It is the hardest work I have ever done. It has also been the greatest experience I have ever known. One weekend in mid-October, the band was to perform at a football game Saturday morning, a competition Saturday night and then another competition Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, I basically lived with the band that weekend. We were together from 10: 30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and from 10 to 6: 30 Sunday.

We started out the weekend in pretty good form. Our performance at the football game went well. That night, our drill instructor, Jim Cronin, told us that we were lacking our usual intensity. Still, we were psyched to be performing in our home stadium and we managed to receive a perfect score of five stars from the judges. Everyone was exhilarated.

The next day, our band director, Miss Smith, informed us that our execution of the show was far superior to our work the previous night. Unfortunately, the scoring was lower, too, and we were given four stars. Many band members were quite disappointed and depressed.

Miss Smith boarded our bus for the ride home. She had explained to us before the show that judges were different wherever you compete, but we had made her truly proud just the same. Even Jim was pleased. The most memorable part of her speech contained a reference to what living really is all about: "What did the other students at Wakefield High do today?" she asked, "They probably did nothing."

Miss Smith convinced me that the extreme highs and lows of the weekend were what living was all about. She just radiates this intense energy that proves if anyone knows what living is, Miss Kimberly Smith does.

I will never forget that weekend as long as I live. The electrifying combinations of emotions I felt in those two days honestly made me believe that life is absolutely too short to sit back and watch the days pass by. n