One of the things I love most about Ella is that she’s insanely humble and unassuming. She’s beautiful and talented and kind, but she doesn’t always realize her own worth. A few weeks before Homecoming at her school, she mentioned that they were voting for Homecoming Class Representatives at school and talking about who she was thinking of voting for. I casually said something about her being the rep and the look on her face was hilarious. I don’t think she had even considered that as an option, but she reminded me she was on the Railroad Safety Committee and that she would be riding in the parade with that group of students and that she had other responsibilities that would conflict with being the sixth grade rep.
A week or so later, Polly and I were napping when I got a message from Ella in all caps — I WON SIXTH GRADE HOCO REPRESENTATIVE! She was so surprised and thrilled to represent her class and I was immediately calculating the cost of a new suit, two dresses, and a rental car. Ha!
In the ultimate timing coincidence, Josh’s mom bought a new car earlier in the week and Josh decided to drive it in the parade for Ella to ride in. She was much happier about this than riding on top of the Altima. We worked on some hand-lettered signs and balloon garlands to decorate the car, her aunt brought by a huge bucket of black & gold mardi-gras beads, and Gran bought tons of Halloween candy for her to throw. I spent all day decorating the car, fixing hair and getting Polly ready for her first big event!
Polly wasn’t sure what she thought about the heat, but we managed to survive the day without any major hiccups. I kept Sophie home that day and checked Ella out around 10:30 to get her ready. We had to have her back at the school by noon and ready for the parade at 1 o’clock. Once she and Josh were lined up and ready to go, Sophie and I pushed Polly downtown to meet my parents and Josh’s mom. This is one of best parts about living in a small town — our Homecoming Parade is a big event and everyone is there. Since the middle and high schools are on the same campus, those students are dismissed to the front lawn to watch. The elementary school busses the kids downtown and they watch from one of the local church’s parking lot.
Ella was grinning from ear to ear by the time she reached us and we made her daddy come to a complete stop for a photo op. Fortunately, the band stops to play several times, so we weren’t holding anybody up.
There is about a 45 minute break between the parade and pep rally, so we had plenty of time to walk back to campus, swap cars with my mother-in-law and feed Polly before it started. I tried feeding her before the gym filled up, but she was sleepy and uninterested. Of course, about ten minutes before start time, she came unglued and I had to feed her in the gym bathroom. I know I could have fed her wherever I wanted, but I was trying to be discreet given where we were. Unfortunately, there isn’t any air conditioning in the bathroom, so we were both drenched when it was all over!
Our day was so full and we only had a few hours, after school to get everyone showered and ready for the game. Josh & Ella had to be back for pictures by 5:30, so we all decided to ride together and eat cheese fries before the game! How adorable do these two look?
For Homecoming, there is a pre-game show, where each representative is announced, along with their school achievements, extra-curricular activities, and what they want to be when they grow up. Josh begged her to say that her daddy still doesn’t know what he wants to be yet and she has plenty of time to decide — of course she gave him a hard no and said she wanted to be a doctor.
It was such a fun night to celebrate our school and our girl and she was positively glowing for the rest of the night. She stayed after the game for the Homecoming dance and didn’t get picked up until 11 o’clock?! I’m not ready for this…
