Homecoming 2009

Are you ready for some footbaallll!?! Today is our small Texas town's Homecoming. The weather is gorgeous. The sun is shining and the temperature today will reach a crisp, fall 70 degrees. Tonight will be in the 50's, so everyone will be grabbing their jackets, blankets and hot chocolate to head to the high school football stadium for the game of the season.

Homecoming in our town is prepared for and talked about for weeks ahead of time. The stores on Main Street have signs out and their windows painted with "Go Team Win!" in the black and gold school colors. Everywhere you look there is support for the hometown team. Basically the rule is, if you don't want to join in the homecoming festivities...then just get out of the way.

This afternoon is the Parade right down the middle of Main Street. Starting last night people started backing their pick up trucks into the parking spaces that face the street, to reserve their prime viewing spot. Sitting on the truck's flipped down tailgate makes for a great seat because it puts you a little higher than all the lawn chairs that have been strategically placed since early morning. School lets out today at noon, so everyone has time to get to where they need to be for the big event. The local police department shuts down the street and some businesses close up shop. Everyone starts lining the street as the float entries, decorated trailers, people riding horses, firetrucks and so much more start lining up for the parade.

People have been working on their parade floats for weeks. One year my daughters and their friend decorated a golf cart to look like a volcano because the homecoming theme was tropical. Two of the girls walked along side of the volcano dressed in hula skirts and leis, and the other was on the back of the volcano cart dressed as a pirate complete with eye patch and sword. Kayla in her later years of school was on the drill team, called the Brigadettes. Every year she would be in formation walking down the street doing their routines to the booming sounds of the marching band. The one exception to her high school years was when she was voted "Brigadette Sweetheart" and she got to ride in a convertible driven by Dad, and wave to everyone like she was the Queen of England waving at her subjects. These were all good times and great memories.

The football game tonight will be packed with fans from tiny baby to great grandpa. Everybody in town turns out. The stands will be overflowing with hometown fans. So much so, that we overflow onto the visitors side and there isn't much room for out of town guests. We have arrived to the football game two hours early before, just to get a parking spot that is not a 3 mile hike away and to get a good seat on the bleachers. Once you get to a homecoming game a little late, you see the consequences and the next year you make sure you are one of the early arrivers.

Even if you could care less about football, the halftime show is a sight to see. At halftime all of the stadium lights go out and it's pitch black. Then as the band strikes up and the Brigadettes march out, you see they are wearing glow sticks on their hands, feet and hats. There was even one year, we had to duck tape a flashlight shining toward the ground onto Kayla's boots. This all sounds very strange but looks great from the stands. The twirlers then light their batons on fire and commence to throwing them in the air, catching them behind their backs and under their legs. The high school metal shop has built signs in the shape of the American Flag and the State of Texas. As they set them ablaze, the crowd goes wild. For the finale, there is a fireworks show. With every eye looking toward the sky, all you hear is oohs and aahs. After the halftime show, the stadium lights come back on, and it's back to the game at hand.

Being from Texas, we have the tradition of "Homecoming Mums." Growing up with this tradition, it is strange to find out this is a southern "thang" and this is not done in the northern states. Northerners who have seen our Mums, are appalled at the gaudiness of it all and wonder why would we even want to wear such a thing. What they don't understand is, it comes down to popularity and who gave who a mum or garter. The bigger and gaudier, means more money was spent and they must be really liked. There have been girls that had so many mums they couldn't pin all of them on and had to carry one or two. Of course, these girls are usually one of the cheerleaders, Miss Popularity...enough said.

A Homecoming mum is a girl's corsage that has mums in the middle but is adorned with stuffed animals, football trinkets and yards and yards of ribbons. The ribbons and bows are all glittered up and spell out the names of boy and girl friends, homecoming 2009 and football cheers. No mum is complete without a bell tied on somewhere so everyone knows you're coming through. I have seen girls wearing their mums pinned to their shirt and the corsage was so heavy, the girl had to hold it up with her hands just to keep it from ripping the shirt right off her back. The boys get off a little easier than the girls. They wear what is called a garter, only it's worn around their upper arm. It is considerably smaller, but none the less decorated to the hilt. For the last week there has been roadside vendors in town with racks displaying mums and garters for sale and the florist's parking lots have been full, getting ready for this week's celebration.

There is something to be said for living in a small town. When everybody comes together for one common goal, there is nothing like it. We're all one team...the Homecoming Team that is.