"It's surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time."
-- Barbara Kingsolver
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| Party punch for two in vintage martini glasses 9-21-14 |
"You can never go home again,
but the truth is you can never leave home,
so it's all right."
-- Maya Angelou
"Homecoming means more than kings and queens."
-- Unknown
When they get to be my age, most teenagers won't remember what they did at homecoming.
Mine will never forget.
Leo and his girlfriend Mackenna opted to forego last night's typical, sweat and hormone-drenched everyone-is-doing-it homecoming dance.
They still got dressed up and went out for a fancy dinner. But afterwards, they came back to our house, which Leo and I had transformed into a romantic, private little dance hall.
We hung streamers from the ceiling.
We lined the "dance floor" with colored lights.
There were balloons and even punch in a punch bowl.
Leo made signs that said "Welcome to At Home Coming."
When he texted that they were on their way back from the restaurant, I lit the candles and put the dance music on -- an old album of my mom and dad's with Nat King Cole crooning "When I fall in Love," and "Stardust" and "Stay as Sweet As You Are."
It made me feel really good to be Leo's wing man (or as he called me, his "wing nut.") And I was proud as hell of these two great kids who aren't afraid to break away from the crowd and say "fuck you" to popularity, and kings and queens, and alcohol and peer pressure and all that other high school bullshit, and take gentle care of their own happiness instead.
As a bonus, my husband and I had our own private party down in the basement with a stash of snacks, a cooler full of beverages, and a packed night of college football games on the big screen.
That was good too.
