High School Homecoming

Today was homecoming for the local high school team and they got the day started right with a victory in football.  It was only their third win of the season but they played very well and came off the field with a victory.

That evening was the homecoming dance and Lexa had been looking forward to the event all week.  She got all dolled  up and went to her first high school homecoming dance.  We drove down to see her and take the required pictures of her.  I must say, she looked very nice and I wonder why we didn't have a girl this pretty when I was a freshman in high school.   Well, maybe we did, but my memory is fading now. 

We waited around until she came home to hear about the dance.  Then we headed back up to the cabin.  It had cooled off a lot and the temperature on the car thermometer said it was 39.  Surprisingly, the temp at the cabin only dropped down to 38 at midnight.  It usually is about 5 degrees cooler up here on the mountain, but not tonight.  During the night it dropped lower, but did not get down to freezing.  We had left the heater on at the cabin and it was a nice temp for sleeping.

As an aside, it was in 1956 during my high school homecoming game that I threw the fateful block that resulted in a broken collarbone and separated shoulder.  During the same game Skeeter, the starting QB, broke a finger on his throwing hand, and Weye, the other starting end, tore up his knee.  There went the season for dear old Gillespie High.  We only had 24 players on the varsity that season and had a 5-1 record at the time.  To make matters worse, I really didn't have to throw the block, but I was practicing an open field block.  Dumb!   The team wound up 6-5 and we could have easily gone 10-1 that year without the injuries.   Such is life.

The game was played on a Friday night and I had to wait until Monday to have the broken collarbone repaired with a metal bar screwed into the bone to hold the broken section.  They couldn't set the shoulder until the bar was inserted.  The worst pain associated with the injury was as a result of the doctor taping my shoulder back and getting tape tangled in the hair under my arms.  Every time I moved a little it pulled and was very uncomfortable.

I did manage to go out on a date with Gerry that Saturday and Sunday but I don't think I was very good company.  That much I do remember about the injury.

13 days to departure, but who's counting.