[Pretend this deathless prose is actually copyrighted...humor me.]
Ed. Note: a few photos may be examined on the Christian Life High School Facebook page...
Editor: Ben, are the rumors true? Were you really selected to be on the Christian Life High School Homecoming Court? How did this come about?
BEN: Um, yes, by popular vote, I was elected to Homecoming Court. No surprise there.
Ed.: Say what?
BEN: You heard it from the horse’s mouth.
Ed. Well, I heard something, but I always assume an uppity attitude comes from the Back End of a horse...just sayin.' Anyway, I was given to understand that SOME of your family members where QUITE dumbfounded by this development…
BEN: As well they should be. This is the first time in Holliday family history that One of Us has been on CLHS Homecoming Court.
Ed.: Tell us how you felt when you learned this news.
BEN: I, myself, was quite shocked. I never thought that I would ever be so honored as to be on my high school's homecoming court. Actually, I'm not sure I'll ever be the same...wait, is that a GOOD Thing?
Ed.: What all was involved in this ?
BEN: It was a big honor. I had my picture taken along with the rest of the court, many times. We had to learn a song and dance that we had to perform at the Banquet. It was “Chicago” by Frank Sinatra. It was like a 1920s swing dance…I even got to wear a fedora ..the Rat Pack…that’s what I’m talkin’ about.
And it was really busy. We had to go to the homecoming games, including Powder Puff (the game when the senior boys play the junior boys in volleyball, and the senior girls play the junior girls in football). Practice for coronation…That was pretty punctual, you know, and took up a lot of time during school. Then after the real coronation, we got served lunch in the board room – Mongolian Beef and Chinese food. That was really nice. And then we toured around the middle school and elementary school and said 'hi' to the tykes, and 'here's your new king and queen," etc. I think it was supposed to be a 'highlight' but who knows what they really thought. Maybe they got out of a test or something!
Then, there were lots of poses for photos. When we were on stage after coronation, we had our photos taken by the school photographer. It’s all on facebook. http://www.facebook.com/ A few weeks before Homecoming. Mr. Beary announced over the PA system who the candidates were….I really didn’t know anyone would seriously vote for me before then. One day they took us outside and had us pose…it was a nice day out and I was the last one, they gave me a pair of sunglasses and they showed me how to do “The Bolt” - [Ed. note: this iconic pose can be viewed amongst the photos at the top of this installment]
Ed.: Gracious! All this heart-pounding excitement sounds as if it could cause a spot of fatigue...but, then, you're Forever Young.
BEN: Well, it was a 'Ride' - if ya know what I mean! Like, at halftime during the football game---which we WON, by the way....SORRY, Kirkland--actually, NOT sorry. They had all of us on the court and the King and Queen ride around the field in a jeep motorcade…the jeeps were all different colors, and each king candidate rode with a queen candidate. I felt like I was in a deck of cards. That was a blast. I rode with Danielle Cicogna and our driver was Bronson Radke, an alumnus, and he swerved around, and then two of my buds, Andrew and Daniel had the audacity to hop into our jeep…they were stowaways.
Ed.: Whew...let me catch my breath here, laddie...
BEN: Next came the dinner on Saturday. First, we met at one of the girls' houses...well, house is kind of an understatement..and posed for pictures. Unfortunately, this was somewhat spoiled when our moms morphed into frustrated professional photographers and became Really Annoying.
Anyway, I was so busy this past week, between school, x-country practice, working, and then even having a x-c meet ON Saturday, that I had to send my mom and my sister on a mission to get my clothes…fortunately, they can follow directions. Yeh, sometimes they even have to ASK for directions...
It just so happened that my friend, Daniel and I , wore the exact same thing, except his tie was silver grey and mine was pure white. His date, Angie, wore a silver/black dress. My date, Chloe, wore a black and white polka dot dress, so everything was somehow perfectly coordinated. By some weird coincidence, we each got them the same wrist corsage. Well, I mean, they each had their own....
Then it was on to La Casa Grande. It was a nice place in Beloit, WI right across the state line. The food was great…I had beef and pasta and such. But, believe it or not, no dessert. I know...
Ed.: You've got to be kidding! No chocolate of any kind? anywhere? Did you ask for a refund???
BEN: You're interrupting. When we walked in, it was all lit up with Christmas lights, and there was soft jazz music playing, and there was a balcony, and there was an unnecessary amount of our teachers there, pretending to be chaperones. The court and our dates sat at the head table up at the front of the room. We got to see everyone, because we had the best seats in the house. A person could sort of get used to that. It was nice to be there and see everyone dressed up.
Ed.: Well, except for the egregious absence of chocolate, it sounds like a great evening...did anything else happen?
BEN: Well, after they served dinner, we watched a lot of video clips from youtube.com and Pixar, then we played a game where the faculty sang things and we had to guess what they were singing about...or something like that. I'm still not too sure.
Then Mr. Beary [the principal] narrated a slide show making reference about homecoming about what to do and what not to do. One poor kid had these really embarrassing photos that his mom had snuck in.
Ed. Note: I did NOT 'sneak' them in. I merely complied with the letter sent to "court" parents from the school office, asking us to discreetly look for memorable photos of our students to be used in some creative way at the Banquet. I was only obeying.
BEN: Then the homecoming court did our performance of "Chicago" by Frank Sinatra. That's why so many of the guys wore black shirts and fedoras. Miss Beach choreographed it. And then one of the interns from CrossCurrent [student ministry group] tried to teach the faculty how to do the Thriller game. Then one of the foreign exchange students, Leo, did a beat box solo (rap), then Mr. Beary prayed, and we all left.
Ed.: Wow, Ben, that really sounds like a night to remember....
BEN: Oh, I'll remember it, all right. And, before I forget, THANK YOU, MOM, for sneaking Mr. Beary that picture of me when I was three, riding the toy rocking horse in my plaid pants. That was Just Great. The whole room started laughing, and Andrew made his usual crack about how that was my golfing outfit, and then everyone started calling me "Rocking Horse Boy." Yeah. Nice.
Ed.: *smirk*
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