Proof That I Had Mums

And because I'm secure enough in my beauty these days to show you pictures from high school. Well, pictures of pictures from high school. I don't have a scanner, so you'll have to pardon the quality.

Freshman year. A junior asked me to homecoming. Afterwards we went to his friend's house and watched a movie. And he tried to kiss me and I freaked out on him. Mom and dad would have proud. And yes, even my bangs were permed. I can't count the number of times the word "poodle" was used that year. What the hell was I thinking? And why didn't I buy him a garter?

Sophomore year. I was dating the back up quarterback of the football team, also a sophomore. We were cool. Even with the bolo. Note his lovely garter.

Junior year. I took a freshman. I had gotten my braces off, my skin had cleared up. Life was looking up.

My friend here will kill me, but I love this photo. She had a triple mum. Her man liked her more. Or he had more money than my freshman.

And senior year. No mum that year. No, no....too mature for that stuff. Just a classy little corsage. I asked Jeff, who had graduated....two years before me? He lived in my neighborhood and was worshipped by the all the girls. And everyone was shocked that he showed up with me. I remember we went to Red Lobster beforehand and I had a virgin daiquiri. A wild night, indeed. What on earth possessed me to ask him? I can't remember.......

Texas Homecomings

Are you familiar with a homecoming mum?

The boys would buy their date a mum for the homecoming football games. I cannot convey to you how big of a deal this was. The flower stores would just be inundated with orders and the girls would just sweat and panic every year - "Is he going to buy me a mum?! Oh my god, I have to have a mum!" The mums had fake flowers, bells, charms, names on the ribbons and sometimes, like the photo above, a stuffed animial (that one was considered a "primo" mum). And the girls, in turn, would give the boys these garters that had ribbons and bells on the them that the boys wore on their biceps.

And the bigger the mum, the more your boy liked you. Sad, but true. My biggest mum was a triple - three, big fake flowers, that took the shape of a heart. Yes, Dennis Something-er-other really, really liked me. The first couple of years of middle school, before dates or boyfriends, mom would buy me a mum just so I'd have one. It was a small, single flower with two ribbons. Everyone knew my mom bought it for me, but there were some girls who didn't have a mum at all. So, I still felt pretty damn special.

At our high school reunion, in 2003, Julie's mom bought her a mum, since our reunion was during homecoming weekend. We all had a good laugh at that. And I can say that because Julie's family doesn't read this blog.

Note the single flower. Julie's mom didn't love her as much as Dennis loved me.

I just googled "homecoming mums" and there are actual websites for them. And holy crap, they're expensive! I don't remember how much we paid back in 1990 for them, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't anywhere around $100.