Apple Pies, Spiced Candles, and Flag Girls

It's the end of flag football season for both of my boys. Flag football is one of the most exciting games to watch for a parent. It's fast-paced and the kids love learning all of the plays. For me, it also brings to mind college football games in the fall. I can still remember the sound of crunching leaves under my feet as I walked to the football stadium, and the yummy smell of brats roasting at the numerous tailgates in the stadium parking lot. It brings to mind apple pies, squash soup, and pumpkin spiced candles.

But then my mind starts to wander and I think of high school football and I remember the fact that I was too lanky and uncoordinated to make the pom pom squad for my high school's football team. The pom pom girls got to wear Las Vegas-esque gold sequin outfits. Out of pity the high school rah-rah committee let me be a flag girl. The flag girl outfit was not made of glamorous gold sequins. No, no, no. It was a horrid white and red polyester getup that went down to the knees, complete with fake white vinyl boots. The yearbook photo says it all. We're the dour ones in the front row on the left. The shiny golden pom pom girls are on the right.

Then there was the time when I didn't make the primary cheerleading squad, so the "alternates" were forced to be cheerleaders for the boys cross country team. Imagine two freakishly tall "alternate cheerleaders" standing in the middle of a golf course in Waterloo, Iowa, in 80 gazillion degree humidity. There is no one around. No birds, no people, no nuthin'. Every twenty minutes or so, one lone boy would come running by and we would yell GREAT JOB! KEEP RUNNING! But we kept showing up, every week, to sweat it out in our alternate cheerleading outfits. No one ever checked up on us. I'm thinking we were victims of a practical joke.

Sorry. My mind took a u-turn there for a minute. Stay put - let me go smell a few pumpkin candles. I'll be right back.

.....aaaaaah. Thanks for waiting. I feel much better now. Actually maybe it was the Frangelico. But I really do love fall. I love all holiday seasons. I go a bit bananas by March, but that's pretty standard practice for most Bendites. But then I dig out my coconut butter lotion and Hawaiian Plumeria candles, and I'm right as rain. Aloha!