I love the Fall.

Football and homecoming just make it better.

It’s homecoming time!

Germantown and Valley View Homecomings were special, and  Homecoming was simpler then.  There was a Queen, a King, and a sock-hop.

Now, homecoming, at least in Georgia, is a mini-prom.  Parents spend nearly a thousand bucks to get their daughters ready.  Limos, nails, dresses, hair, flowers, dinner, and the the ‘dance’ at the school.  It’s crazy.

The first recorded homecoming was in 1909 at Baylor University.  Now, I’m sure someone will come UP with one that is older, but this is all I could find!!  So, work with me.

Missouri started its homecoming in 1911.  Either way, the tradition is over 100 years old.

What I remember are pretty girls, convertibles, mums, and anxious moms hoping their daughter would be crowned Queen.

Of course, there were always two moms who went away empty handed, sure that their daughter had been robbed.

Germantown’s Connie Diver was homecoming in the Fall of 1967.

Connie can not only fit into the earring she wore in high school, she can probably fit into that suit as well.  Really, it’s not fair that someone stay that pretty and that young for so long!

Of course there were Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior attendants as well.

Once we became Valley View, there were more pretty girls for the court.  No matter which town the Queen was from, the vote was usually not close.  One girl always stood out.  Only one girl was the Queen.

There were traditions galore.  There was a parade through town, and the King and Queen always lead the first dance at the sock hop in the gym.  The previous queen came and crowned the new queen too, well, assuming she wasn’t pregnant, in jail, or otherwise unavailable!

In the Fall of 1976, my sister-in-law, Rhonda was Queen.

One year later, my other sister-in-law Mindy, was the Queen.

And of course, you can imagine their Mother’s pride when Rhonda crowned Mindy.

Of course, their Dad was none to happy about buying two new outfits!  Rhonda and Mindy are the only sisters who were back to back homecoming queens!  Sure, there are mom and daughter queens, which is pretty cool, but sisters, now, that’ s a winning streak!

Oddly enough, homecoming is really supposed to be a time that welcomes back alumni, and there are plenty of them at the game each year, but homecoming today is all about the court and all about the game.

One of the traditions that has changed over the years is the mum. I can’t find out why Chrysanthemums became the homecoming flower, I can only assume that since they are a Fall flower, they were plentiful.  But, nonetheless, mums were the flower of choice.  Of course, even that has changed.  Now the queen gets roses, the corsages are all different flowers, and mums have fallen by the wayside.

Except in Texas, where like everything else, they are bigger and gaudier than ever.  And they are fake!

Texas homecoming mums are nearly a foot across, covered with pictures and pins, and bedecked with ribbons.

Honestly, with something like this, a guy can’t even get the second base!  And that’s a homecoming tradition that will never go away.

So, with the crisp Fall air on its way, football on every field, and homecoming around the corner, check out what your school is doing to welcome you back.  Call a few friends, go home, buy a mum and cheer your team on to victory.

You can go home again!

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