Another Wet Homecoming

In 2002, I changed jobs, moving from the junior high to the high school. In our school district, each teacher has one extracurricular activity. At the junior high, I co-sponsored the Beta Club, which is not a whole lot of trouble at the junior high level. I knew that whatever I did at the high school level would be more trouble and effort on my part than any junior high activity.
But I had no idea that homecoming was run out of the library until I took the job! That first year, I had a couple of people to help me. Things went about as well as could be expected for my first time to do it. It was the first week in October; floats were done; dresses and tuxes were rented; I felt ready and pleased that it was coming off so well for my first time to be in charge. Then it happened. A hurricane blew in. The superintendent came over to the library and met with the maids, the principal, and me on Wednesday. He had been monitoring the weather closely, and the storm was supposed to hit Thursday night and be bad all weekend. He had decided to move the homecoming festivities to Thursday. The parade would be Thursday afternoon at 1:00 instead of 1:30, and the court would be held in the coliseum before the game. The opposing team had agreed to come over and play on Thursday night.

Frantic phone calls to moms were made; hair appointments had to be changed; tuxes had to be picked up. We were all in a tizzy, but it all worked out. The girl that Russell was dating at the time was a senior maid, so I had to call him to come home from MS State on Thursday so that he could see her in the court. The parade went off without a hitch, and just as it was ending, the rain started. Obviously, the superintendent had made the right decision about the time of the parade. By the time we arrived at the coliseum for the court at 6:00, the rain was a steady downpour. We had the court, and it was great. I was really pleased at how well it went, especially with the last minute change and no practice. When it was over, David and I left for home, and Russell stayed for the game with his girlfriend. Less than an hour after we got home, Russell came in soaking wet; the storm got so bad that the game was called, which never happens in high school football. So that was my initiation into the world of being in charge of homecoming.

Fast forward to 2009. It has been raining for 17 days. The weather on Friday has looked fairly promising, but we are all not banking on anything. At practice on Friday morning, the first thing that I did was to tell the girls not to wear heels--I could just see shoes sinking in the wet turf and staying there. The second thing that I did was to tell the girls and dads the two back-up plans. Back up plan number one is to hold the court in the gym IF the parade IS rained out. If the parade is rained out, the coliseum is full of floats. Back up plan number two is to hold the court in the coliseum IF the parade IS NOT rained out. If the parade goes on as scheduled, the coliseum is empty and there is plenty of room for the court.

Then Katy and I lined them up on the field for practice. She had the maids, and I had the little girls who were helping with the crown and flowers. I had asked the maintenance crew to put a board over the low spot in the field for the little girls to walk over when they were handing out flowers. By the time we had walked back and forth over it a few times, it had sunk and was covered in mud. I had rolled up my jeans and worn my beach flip flops (hey, I'm no dummy when it comes to practice). At one point, I took a step and my flip flop stayed in the mud. I finished the practice in my bare feet. I found out later that this happened to a couple of maids as well, and one girl got mud up her back after her flip flop flew off. When practice was over, Katy and I were covered in mud up to right below our knees. I called the school to let them know that we were going home to change before we returned to school.

When I returned to school, I talked with the Mr. C., the principal, about the field conditions and told him that there was no way that we could have the court on the field even if the sun came out right then and there was no rain at all. He had already been thinking about that, and went over to check out the field for himself and talk to the superintendent, Dr. M. He could just see mad mamas showing up at his office when dresses and tuxes were ruined. A lot of our girls rent their dresses, so they would get charged big time if they bring them back caked in mud. When he came back from talking to Dr. M., Mr. C. said that Dr. M. wanted to go to the field himself. A little later, Mr. C. got a call requesting our presence at the field. We jumped in Mr. C.'s truck and drove over.

By the way, do you remember that I had already changed clothes? I had the foresight to put on capris, so I was not worried about them getting muddy; I just took off my flip flops (my nice Yellow Box ones this time--not ones I wanted to get muddy) and walked out to the field with my two bosses in my bare feet. Dr. M.'s idea was to put down gravel and plywood on the section between the bleachers and the fence and hold the court there. He did not want to go to the coliseum or gym if at all possible. We talked it through and decided how to carry it off. By this time it is fairly evident that the rain is holding off and the parade will go on. So Dr. M. said that we would hold the court on the plywood-covered section in front of the bleachers and in the coliseum if the weather is inclement. I rushed back to school to tell the girls.

It was a little stressful to get the girls together, first of all. Some of them are cheerleaders and were getting ready for the pep rally. Some of them are in the band and were at rehearsal. But we finally did get them all in the library, and Katy, Jennie, and I talked to them and explained how it would all work. After they left, Jennie and I then started talking out how to handle the little girls giving out the flowers and crown and decided to meet at the field after the parade to work that out.

I always skip the pep rally and go to the parade a little early. I feel like I need to be there while floats are lining up. At some point during that time, Dr. M. came over and told me that the court would definitely be in the coliseum. The people who had the gravel did not think that the trucks would get down there without getting stuck. So as the girls arrived at the parade about 1:00, I told them the THIRD change of plans since 8:00 that morning. The weather was very "iffy;" there was a threatening-looking cloud, and the wind kicked up a little bit. But I guess hundreds of people were praying; the rain held off, and the parade went on.

Katy and I went out to the coliseum after the parade and talked through how it would go. She stayed out there to set up ferns while I went back to school. When Jennie arrived at the school later, she and I talked through how to have the little girls do their flowers and crown roles.

The girls and dads all arrived on time; the band sat in the stands and played; the little girls were precious. It all went off without a hitch, despite the many hitches earlier in the day. Another homecoming is under my belt, and I am so glad this one is over and on the record books!

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Books and holidays go hand in hand

Well, this weekend we went to Clarkco State Park, one of our favorite places to go, even though the fishing isn't good there. I did not book the reservations until May, so the cabin that we usually get was booked. I had to go to a slightly higher one that slept 6 people, but it was more secluded than the other one and bigger, so we did like it. We did have some rain, a bad thunderstorm for about 2 hours on Sat. morning and another slow, steady rain for a long time Sunday morning and into the afternoon. We did some napping and a lot of reading. We always read when we travel; we just read even more this time because of the rain. We grilled out, and I tried two new dishes, grilled vegetables with olive oil that the kids brought from France, and something called a Big Smoky burger. It was seasoned with onion, garlic, grill seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. Both were excellent, and we will try them again! Below is a brief summary of what I read.

Prep--It was a little racy in some parts for my library, but a really good study of one mid western teenager's four years in an elite boarding school. Lee does not fit in at her boarding school in Massachusetts, Ault. While not poor, she is not wealthy and has never been around the type of wealth she sees at Ault, a place where she (and others like her) are too ashamed to admit that they are scholarship students. She makes friends in sort of an afterthought fashion, and admires a boy up until her senior year, when he finally begins to pay attention to her. Although Lee grows and progresses during her four years, she also never really leaves the character of someone on the outside looking in. I read somewhere that the movie rights have been purchased of this book; I will certainly see it if it comes out.

How to Build a House--This is another one that I read about in School Librarian Workshop as a highly recommended book for young adults. Harper, trying to get over the breakup of her parents' marriage, spends a summer in TN with a volunteer group that is helping out a family whose home was destroyed by a tornado. In the process of her physical labor, Harper comes to a new understanding of herself and her father. This was a good book, although a little deep for some of my readers.

Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys--When Megan's career army parents get transferred to South Korea right before her junior year, she does not want to go. Her parents allow her to stay with their old friends the McGowans, parents of seven boys. Megan learns to deal with a new school, new home, new "brothers," and new friends while desperately trying to be her own person and make a place for herself. She closes each chapter with a desperate text message to her best friend back in Texas, which calls her guide to the McGowan Boys. Although a very funny book, there is a lot of very serious stuff going on, and Megan grows up a lot by the end of the book. I highly recommend to my high school readers.

Bloomberg Place series--I finished the third one of these this weekend, and they are all great. Readers of my blog know how much I love Melody Carlson. She takes flawed, imperfect characters and makes them "real" to the reader and shows how everyone is forgiven. Lelani is dealing with her parents who have taken custody of her illegitimate baby Emma and preparing for a court battle that she does not want, and Kendall is coming to grips with her poor financial management and the impending birth of her baby, a product of a one-night stand. Anna and Megan provide moral support for both women, and at least one of the four friends gets a marriage proposal. A great series showing how God takes bad situations and uses them to make people better than they were before.

As you can see, I had a great time reading this weekend and really enjoyed myself!