Revisiting Homecoming

This past weekend was homecoming weekend at our local high school. It's a big weekend for the students and community alike with a football game under lights on Friday and a homecoming dance on Saturday evening. Homecoming dances are no longer the simple events of years past when a guy invited his date and bought her a corsage consisting of a single large mum wrapped in ribbons sporting your school colors. They were ordered during the lunch hour the week before homecoming, ensuring that each girl would get a fresh mum just like the one worn by every girl who would be attending the homecoming dance. Dance attire was casual, which translates to today's "business casual," which is very unlike the cocktail dresses and color-matched tuxes or suits featured at today's dances. None of this is a criticism of the changes that have occurred over the years. I am certain that the memories made this week will be just as good as the ones from many years ago.

As I make this observation, I can't help but notice how easily the older homecoming traditions blend with the newer ones to give homecoming a fresh look and spirit each season. In our small community, one of those traditions is painting the windows of the downtown businesses. I photographed some of those windows for this week's blog. As I photographed them, I remembered taking my children downtown for a Saturday morning for a donut treat and walking the streets with them admiring the artwork. That unexpected memory is truly treasured.

Today those windows will be washed by the students immediately after the weekend celebrations, making them look ordinary once again. (I think one of the reasons window painting has remained a part of the homecoming tradition is that the students take responsibility for both decorating and the cleanup, and in doing so, they preserve the tradition for another year.) While the windows and high school life will return to normal, the memories created by celebrating this event will remain for a lifetime.

“Home is what you make, not what you find."

― Christie Valentine Powell,