Never ceasing to be amazed.
Coming Home to Homecoming
It's been a great time for reminiscing these two story-evoking weeks. Lucky me, I've had the grand opportunity to attend two homecoming weekends, back to back, packed with excitement and all kinds of unusual fun and scrutinizing.
First, I'll start off with the dynamic night of football I had the honor of witnessing- the Kittanning vs. Burrell game. Since my father has season tickets to the pigskin throwing events, I decided to come with him and keep him out of trouble (which never works because I start mocking along and being silly just like he does. You can't be a Reedy without a good mocking and some foolishness). We first take our cool, aluminum seats and I see signs around the field with names of them. I narrowed it down to either Senior night or Homecoming because no one plasters their name on a sign on a fence without having a reason (unless you are into graffiti). Not even three seconds after I asked him about it, the lady in front of us, sporting picture pins of band kids, jumps in, leans back, and tells us it's homecoming. A shock to us because for one- we don't know who this lady is and two- we just didn't see that one coming. She ended up playing the role of Alex Trebek later on that night again. I guess soccer mom's are really on top of the game.
The game soon started and as my eyes shifted from one spot to another all over the field and soon I realized how cheesy some things in high school are to me. As I sat there, I was sitting as a college student; not some ignorant 9th grader throwing popcorn and chasing the opposite sex. I was in the higher education system which gave me the attitude of "I'm bigger than you. Bow before me, oh small unknowing one." Of course, I would never say that because I am much too light-hearted to care about what status or reputation I hold in a town that is centered on a Wal-Mart and an over-flowing riverbank. Yet I found a respect for how precious this time of life was to kids in high school. You only once get to be a kid and goof around and make the sporting event a social hour for you and your friends. Even though the whole idea of homecoming was a little old-fashioned, it's still a treasured part of life that you deep down inside enjoy to watch.
So I return to Edinboro Sunday night and as my schedule worked out, I spent the weekend on campus for the first time. I picked a terrific time to stay because there is lots to keep me busy between all the stuff that was planned into a few days. Homecoming was this weekend and I had already heard stories of what it would be like, mostly the stories of drunken students stumbling around and making fools of themselves while trying to regain their bodily functions. I, on the other hand, rather keep my mentality at a stable and controlled level and keep myself away from being the next cast member in the movie "Old School".
First is started with the parade at 11:00. I woke up at 10:00, thinking it was about 8, but after I squinted and starred at the fuzzy numbers on the on my digital clock, I realized I should probably haul my rear out of bed to make it on time. So I jaunted over to 316 Meadville Street- the Potter's House, belonging to Kristin. I had a jolly of a time sitting on her porch and getting some occasional candy and goodies that were thrown out. The float theme this year was "Fairy Tales" and the floats in the parade did a pretty exceptional job at displaying Three Pigs or Little Red Riding Hood with tissue paper and students inside making stuff move on the float to give it mechanical effect. The Shriners did a bang up job but the presentation of their tricks and figure eights would have been a bit better if all the Shriners from Western Pennsylvania didn't show up for the event. I saw Shriner performances for probably a half hour straight, no joke. People started leaving the parade figuring that "Heck, it's the end of the parade pretty much; I don't need any more exhaust, let's go eat." Eventually, the parade continued and then soon ended around lunch time.
After I shoved some food into my stomach, I hitched a ride with Becca and Sharon from the Potter's house and traveled over to Sox Stadium for the football match between Edinboro and Cal U. We took a seat on the cool bleachers and had a good time being greatly entertained by the band performances and the various comments my some of the college students above us as they chanted several things, some I cannot repeat. It did get a little breezy as time went on but we were all warmed up when we left the stadium and got into the sun after the victory of 43 to 28. Poor Cal U, but oh well, they can just go back to the Black Hole and regroup their plan of attack. I then got my caricature, which you can see above, and traveled to get some yummies in my tummy for dinner. Overall, the homecoming at EUP wasn't too bad and kind of makes me feel proud to be at the school. Maybe a littler interaction with the whole atmosphere made things feel more like home.
I guess you can say that homecoming is different for everyone, whether you are in the sparkly dress sitting on the backseat of a car or passed out over a couch at a frat house. But for me it was just a lot of thinking and analyzing, which always leads me back to the reason for my personal home comings - getting to see my John, home coming King.
First, I'll start off with the dynamic night of football I had the honor of witnessing- the Kittanning vs. Burrell game. Since my father has season tickets to the pigskin throwing events, I decided to come with him and keep him out of trouble (which never works because I start mocking along and being silly just like he does. You can't be a Reedy without a good mocking and some foolishness). We first take our cool, aluminum seats and I see signs around the field with names of them. I narrowed it down to either Senior night or Homecoming because no one plasters their name on a sign on a fence without having a reason (unless you are into graffiti). Not even three seconds after I asked him about it, the lady in front of us, sporting picture pins of band kids, jumps in, leans back, and tells us it's homecoming. A shock to us because for one- we don't know who this lady is and two- we just didn't see that one coming. She ended up playing the role of Alex Trebek later on that night again. I guess soccer mom's are really on top of the game.
The game soon started and as my eyes shifted from one spot to another all over the field and soon I realized how cheesy some things in high school are to me. As I sat there, I was sitting as a college student; not some ignorant 9th grader throwing popcorn and chasing the opposite sex. I was in the higher education system which gave me the attitude of "I'm bigger than you. Bow before me, oh small unknowing one." Of course, I would never say that because I am much too light-hearted to care about what status or reputation I hold in a town that is centered on a Wal-Mart and an over-flowing riverbank. Yet I found a respect for how precious this time of life was to kids in high school. You only once get to be a kid and goof around and make the sporting event a social hour for you and your friends. Even though the whole idea of homecoming was a little old-fashioned, it's still a treasured part of life that you deep down inside enjoy to watch.
So I return to Edinboro Sunday night and as my schedule worked out, I spent the weekend on campus for the first time. I picked a terrific time to stay because there is lots to keep me busy between all the stuff that was planned into a few days. Homecoming was this weekend and I had already heard stories of what it would be like, mostly the stories of drunken students stumbling around and making fools of themselves while trying to regain their bodily functions. I, on the other hand, rather keep my mentality at a stable and controlled level and keep myself away from being the next cast member in the movie "Old School".
First is started with the parade at 11:00. I woke up at 10:00, thinking it was about 8, but after I squinted and starred at the fuzzy numbers on the on my digital clock, I realized I should probably haul my rear out of bed to make it on time. So I jaunted over to 316 Meadville Street- the Potter's House, belonging to Kristin. I had a jolly of a time sitting on her porch and getting some occasional candy and goodies that were thrown out. The float theme this year was "Fairy Tales" and the floats in the parade did a pretty exceptional job at displaying Three Pigs or Little Red Riding Hood with tissue paper and students inside making stuff move on the float to give it mechanical effect. The Shriners did a bang up job but the presentation of their tricks and figure eights would have been a bit better if all the Shriners from Western Pennsylvania didn't show up for the event. I saw Shriner performances for probably a half hour straight, no joke. People started leaving the parade figuring that "Heck, it's the end of the parade pretty much; I don't need any more exhaust, let's go eat." Eventually, the parade continued and then soon ended around lunch time.
After I shoved some food into my stomach, I hitched a ride with Becca and Sharon from the Potter's house and traveled over to Sox Stadium for the football match between Edinboro and Cal U. We took a seat on the cool bleachers and had a good time being greatly entertained by the band performances and the various comments my some of the college students above us as they chanted several things, some I cannot repeat. It did get a little breezy as time went on but we were all warmed up when we left the stadium and got into the sun after the victory of 43 to 28. Poor Cal U, but oh well, they can just go back to the Black Hole and regroup their plan of attack. I then got my caricature, which you can see above, and traveled to get some yummies in my tummy for dinner. Overall, the homecoming at EUP wasn't too bad and kind of makes me feel proud to be at the school. Maybe a littler interaction with the whole atmosphere made things feel more like home.
I guess you can say that homecoming is different for everyone, whether you are in the sparkly dress sitting on the backseat of a car or passed out over a couch at a frat house. But for me it was just a lot of thinking and analyzing, which always leads me back to the reason for my personal home comings - getting to see my John, home coming King.
posted by Lindsay K. at 4:02 PM
1 Comments:
No matter what football game you go to on any level, the fans (especially the parents) think they know everything, and that their son is the best player on the team. They think they should be the coach. Most of the time the parents look like rambling idiots.
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