Mums the Word

My family and I enjoyed a high school football game on Friday night. It was Homecoming at Birdville High and the mighty Hawks did not disappoint as they throttled Graham 47-28.

Our sweet neighbors (bless their hearts) even made Rainey a mum which thrilled her and filled me with dread about the future, but more about that later.

The real show was at half time as I watched my oldest niece Jordan escorted onto the field as a Homecoming Queen nominee. She looked beautiful on my brothers arm and although she did not win, it really was quite an honor to be nominated. Birdville High is a pretty big school. Jordan is smart, funny, talented and pretty. I'm proud to be her uncle and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for her.

But I digress. If you have never been to a homecoming game in Texas then you may not be familiar with the tradition of the Texas mum. And if you are not familiar with the tradition of the Texas mum, then you probably will not believe what I'm about to tell you.

Homecoming mums in Texas are huge! And they seem to get bigger every year (or maybe I'm getting smaller, but I don't think so). We saw girls who had shoulder straps (SHOULDER STRAPS!) connected to their mums to keep them held up. They are floor length and include bells, teddy bears and we even saw one with lights. LIGHTS! I saw neither neon nor any that shot fireworks, but can that be far behind?

I love Texas and Texans, but bigger is most certainly NOT always better. I have one word to describe this idiotic tradition: RI -DIC-U-LOUS! Definition: Deserving or inspiring ridicule; absurd, preposterous, or silly.

However, I told Rainey she looked great (which she did) and kept most of my comments to myself. That's more than I can say for my wife from Idaho who could not contain herself. I just hope we can get through her high school years without totally scarring Rainey beyond help. I'm encouraging her to get on a work out regimen so she'll be able to walk upright while wearing a mum when she gets to high school. Then again, perhaps by then the girls will simply pull them on a trailer instead of pinning them to their dresses.

Sometimes Texas really is a whole other planet.