Jan 11 2008
Cheerleaders
This week was Spirit Week at the kids school. Zeke has been a little disgruntled by the unacceptable clothing worn throughout the week by his siblings. On Monday, when we went to pick them up from school, he looked at all the kids and declared, “It’s not pajama time!” Zeke doesn’t quite understand why you have a pajama day, crazy hat day, and favorite team day. Yesterday for chapel, the high school cheerleaders came to fire up the Stafford campus. They did some stunts and a dance routine and led the classes in the cheer “Hey Eagles are you there?” Abby asked me what I thought about the cheerleaders. Abby’s teacher told her class that she would do away with the sport of cheerleading if she could. I reluctantly had to admit that I had been a cheerleader. I was terrible at basketball, volleyball, and track. I did play softball in the summer, but softball didn’t count as a school varsity sport. I desperately wanted to earn a letter, so I could wear a letterman’s jacket. Cheerleading was the means to the end. Abby asked if I wanted the letterman’s jacket to be cool. I had to admit that was one of my attempts to be cool. I never did quite succeed in being cool, but I did wear a letterman’s jacket. Gabe could not fathom that his mother had been a cheerleader, so I pulled out my old yearbook to show him the pictures. Josiah looked at the pictures and said we all looked like the people in the movie Back to the Future. Zeke looked at my pictures and said, “Mommy, what happened to your hair?” He did not care for the clothes I was wearing either. “What happened to your pants? What happened to your shirt?” Apparently the styles of the 80s don’t appeal to him.

Fortunately for me, we were able to letter in Orienteering in my high school! I don’t think I ever wore my letterman’s jacket, though. I didn’t want there to be any remote possibility that I could be linked to the jocks.
Marg,
I thought one of the reasons you became a cheerleader was to be able to go to all the basketball games and not have to sit by all the parents yelling! Or was it to encourage your brother?
Praying for you daily,
Michael
I did and still do like cheering for my brother, except when he is on the opposing kick ball team.