A double homecoming WIN
Yesterday was Homecoming at the Cle Elum Roslyn High School and, as luck would have it, not only was I home for it, but a couple of friends came to town to see me so we got to go to the game together.
Suzie (a fellow “local”) and Jennifer (a new friend from Facebook, met through Suzie) came to town last night and we really had a blast. I think this might mark the first time that Suzie and I spent time together, as she was two years ahead of me in school – in my sister Claudia’s class – whilst I was in her brother’s class. We were always friendly growing up, but never really friends. (You can’t be friends with your sisters’ friends without someone getting upset!) But thanks to the awesomeness of Facebook and several years’ maturity, we’ve become friends over the last two years.
We started the evening with a nice meal at the Los Cabos and the three of us fell straight into exciting chit-chat about all sorts of things. Anyone listening in would have thought we were fast friends from way back. It set the mood for the entire visit!
After dinner, we made our way to the high school to watch the game. Suzie and I both enjoyed the walk down memory lane and excitedly shared with Jennifer little stories and memories from our own time there. And then it was off to the Caboose for a couple of drinks – and even more excited chit-chat.
This morning, we spent a bit more time hanging out (and geocaching) before they had to head home. But I am so very happy to have spent real-life time with both of them. In fact, I’m trying to swing it so that I can visit them in Tri-Cities when I head to the east side of the state to visit family and friends in the next week or two.
OK, so that’s the first part of this homecoming WIN – the winning awesomeness of spending time with awesome people.
The second part of the WIN is this:
Going to my hometown’s homecoming game 21 years after graduating from high school was weird. First of all, the homecoming traditions have changed quite a bit from “my day” – including the elimination of class floats and the class princesses no longer circle the track sitting on the hood of a classic car.
But so much was the same: The last names of the player and cheerleaders are the same names I grew up with. (In fact, several of my classmates are the parents of the new crop of teenagers!) And the same old faces (even older now, like my own!) were there cheering on the Warriors. Oh! And the cheers are all the same, which means I knew when to clap!
It was a bit strange watching as a kind of outsider now, because I could almost hear the comments of amazement and confusion from my UK family and friends. I mean, small town, redneck, high school football games – on homecoming no less! – would be such a culture shock to so many of them!
But most importantly, the Cle Elum Roslyn Warriors won the game 31-7. Yeah, we kick backside like that!
Cle Elum Warriors: Go! Fight! WIN!