Smells like teen spirit?

Today I smelled cigarette smoke for what must have been the first time in . . . well, a long time. And, despite the ensuing nausea, I couldn't help but smile. Because what does cigarette smoke in chilly autumn air smell like? Marching band season, that's what!

It smells like crying because of numb fingers. It smells like complaining of the stupid uniforms that were roasting hot in August and yet did nothing but make us colder in October-November. Also it smells like the thirty-year-old B.O. on those uniforms. It smells like step-one drills and lateral slides. It smells like laryngitis from yelling too much. It smells like dimes in the swear jar. It smells like teenage drama over battles for leadership. It smells like teenage drama over nothing.

It smells like not knowing anything about football. It smells like arguing with the cheerleaders. It smells like "Smoke on the Water" and "Final Countdown" and "The Hey Song." Also it smells like "Tequila."

But most of all it smells like storming the field when we get band of the day, fifteen people singing and listening to "Feliz Navidad" from one mp3 player and six splitters, daring each other to eat packs of Taco Bell's fire sauce, holding hands, laughing, crying, loving, and having some of the best times of our lives. Yes, that's right. To me, cigarette smoke in cold air smells like love. Go figure.