Burger Pizza

I remember in high school, our secret "code" to talk to other guard members about our crushes was to call them our "burger".

First, let me explain colorguard, shortened to guard for those of us involved. We spun flags & rifles, and on rare occasions sabres (although some groups have a much more trained sabre line) for visual entertainment. It is one activity that I wish I could still participate in, because I met a lot of fun & interesting people I would have never met otherwise. During the winter season, we broke off into our own group (in the fall we marched with the marching band) to form a group of our own, winterguard.

My time with the color and winterguards were some of the best of my high school days. We all formed very strong bonds. Being as socially inept as I am (inept- according to Random House, lacking the ability or aptitude to complete a certain task), I wasn't as closely bonded as were the rest of the members. Don't get me wrong, we were friends, and they were my closest friends during those years, I just didn't fit into the clique as well. Nevertheless, as cocaptain for one year and being involved my junior and senior year, I was still close to the inner circle. These were also the times when I had the best of my high school memories, most of them also quite entertaining lol.

Back to burgers. If you had a crush on someone, you would call that person your "burger" once everyone (in colorguard) understood of whom you were speaking. We would ask things like "have you seen your burger today? Or say things like "hey, I saw your burger down the hall".

One particular member had a burger whom we talked abou frequently, although now, 6 years later, the name escapes me). For the friend's sake, I'll just refer to her as A. Well, there was a dinner my senior year where the foreign exchange students chose one student, whomever they wanted, usually one that had been particularly welcoming, friendly, or helpful. I don't remember whether it was Teresa or Carolin that had chosen me, but I was thrilled to be chosen.

It was quite funny that A had also been invited, as well as the person with whom she was head over heels, her burger. They were at opposite ends of the table at Napoli's, an Italian restaurant directly across the street from the high school. We all saw what the others had ordered, and were entertained to see her burger order himself an entire pizza. We thought he'd never get through the whole thing, but he did!

From that point on, we also referred to him as "burger pizza" because how many other guard members had burgers that could scarf down an entire medium pizza by himself so easily? Now though, she's married and has an adorable little boy. I don't know if her burger pizza is the one she married because his name escapes me. One thing is certain, though; I will never forget burger pizza! I could probably ask A right now and I'm certain she'd laugh too.

There are so many guard memories that they can't be summed up in one blog, but one thing is certain- I'm stoked that I chose to join the guard, despite my inathleticism and ineptitude at dancing and being graceful, because those WERE the best times of my life, and if possible, I'd probably still be on a guard. Alas, things fall apart. At least I have the great memories from guard to replace or at least repress all the hurt and misunderstanding that I experiences I had during those years. They understood & respected me, gave me a bit of confidence, friendships I'll never forget, and enough memories to spend a lifetime to retell. Thank you Joshua HS colorguard/winterguard for getting me through the rest of high school after moving.

Also, I think my regular readers from all over the world- India, Croatia, Slovenia, the Netherlands, & many more, especially from the US (whom are about half my readers), those who are consistently reading, even if you ran into this blog by accident...I like that feeling I get when I know I'm being listened to, since I don't get it often. I've got more than 400 readers since I started this blog 1 September of this year- an average of over 100 a month! Thank you for the confidence boost. Remember that you can follow me if you create an account (which is quite simple) to get updates every time I post, instead of watching my page for new posts, or waiting for a link. I'd really like to see whomever it is that is reading my blog. You're also welcome to leave comments if you're a member, which would be greatly appreciated, and even include things you'd like to see in future blogs, or shoot a message at ashlw87@gmail.com :) have a nice day! Auf weidersehen!