Cheerleaders

This message is for:
All Tecumseh Cheerleaders from 1991-1999, Jennifer Cox, Toni Henry, Cindy Hale, Amy Sampson...

Yesterday and today I have been traveling down memory lane through cheerleading uniforms of days gone by. As you know I am coaching 9th grade cheerleaders who were issued one uniform. That's right, one uniform. I did some investigating and discovered that there is a box in the deep recessed of the maintainence garage. This box is about 4 feet tall, three feet deep, and 5 feet wide. It is full of cheerleading and dance team uniforms from the 90's.
Every uniform is connected to a group of girls that I have "mostly" fond memories of. The funniest thing was that as I was sorting them, I was calling them what the squads that wore them called them. The White T, Zig-Zag, THS (they loved that one because it was so comfortable, SAVAGES (they hated this one because it rubbed under the arm pits). I loved it because it was so pretty, but it was a very expensive top. The lettering on it cost as much as the top. The very first one I remember connected with me was a black and gold with very small white piping, but it had no emblem. I don't know why we didn't get an emblem for that one.
Some of the epic fail uniforms were there. The white dress that the dance team wore in 98,
the crop top that was so thick and stiff that nobody wanted to wear it, again the one that rubbed the arms, the knit jacket that looked sharp but was almost too hot to cheer in, the knit sleeves that were meant to be worn under the sleeveless top, the black body suit that was also miserable to wear.
I took several tops for my cheerleaders; tops are classic-they never go out of style. Skirts, on the other hand, do. Girls today do NOT wear pleated skirts. There are black ones, white ones, box pleated ones, fly away ones, three pleat ones (the freshmen are going to wear those). Some have trim on the bottom, some on the sides. Some trim is black-white-gold-white-black, some black-white-black, gold-black-gold, etc. You get the picture. Anyone but me would have looked in that box and separated them out into black and white skirts, but I knew exactly which top went with which skirt-by the trim. I took about five tops and two skirts for my girls and three jackets. You would have thought it was Christmas yesterday. One of the girls even said, "This is legit." Yeah, yesterday was a good day. Monday will be better because I worked on the skirts that didn't fit, so now they also have a solid black three pleat skirt and a white skirt.

Another deposit in heaven

Tecumseh made another deposit in heaven today. Natalie Wood O'Dell went to heaven about 6:00 leaving behind her two daughters and precious grandchildren, her parents, nieces, and many, many friends. Natalie was only 49 years old and Cancer stole her from us. We have worked together on Relay where Natalie was in charge of the Survivor dinner. She wanted so much to live, and she was such a positive survivor. When the cancer came back, she fought once again, but she just couldn't beat the demonic disease.
Jason liked Natalie. Her nieces were his good friends, and she was always at ag events and ballgames, supporting him and his friends.
Natalie had a great laugh. She will be remembered for that laugh--evidence of her love of life. She loved Jesus and her family. She shouldn't be gone; she joins so many who have entered heaven too soon from our perspective. If Jason didn't immediately know she was in heaven, she probably laughed at something Jesus said, and Jason heard her and came running to show her around. I'm a little jealous. I can imagine Jason meeting her with a smile, a tease, and pride. He's probably saying, "Come on, you've got to see this place. Let me show you my horse. He's better than any I ever owned down there."
My heart aches for Kirby, Kayla, Brandy, and Jennie. They all love her so much. Her grandbabies have been cheated. I've said it before, and I'll repeat it. I Hate Cancer!!