This past weekend I went to my grandson’s high school Homecoming parade and football game. Besides the pang of being old enough to witness his first homecoming dance date, the parade and game itself stirred all kinds of memories, both good and bad.

The parade, the Homecoming Court, the school club floats were filled with beautiful kids. The pom-pom squad, cheerleaders, even the football players had an air and charisma that glowed like an aura all around them.

That’s what Homecoming is supposed to look like.

I rarely look back and wish I could redo any part of my life. But high school is a close first choice.

I had a rough middle school life, having been made fun of for most of those eternal years. So much so I went to a Catholic high school 10 miles away to get away from it all. Come sophomore year I got contact lenses and lost a couple of pounds and went back to the public school near my house. Needless to say, there was no trace of the do-badders from middle school.

I must have over-compensated for bad feelings, for I spent three of my four high school years dating the same person. While I enjoyed the attention of one particular boy, I cut off any potential I had to enjoy high school like a high schooler is supposed to.

I didn’t join any clubs. Try out for any plays. Go to any football or basketball games. Didn’t hang with girlfriends and have overnights or go to my Junior or Senior prom.

Love supposedly conquered everything.

Two months after I graduated my boyfriend and I broke up.

I’m not saying being active in high school is for everyone. These days, homework, the Internet, and plotting a course towards either college or a job is pressure enough.

But watching a group of girls representing some high school club, laughing and waving from the back of a pick up truck, struck a chord of negative nostalgia.

I doubt if I would have been as cute and perky as all the kids that waved as they passed by. But who knows. I would have been able to connect to the experience. To the memories.

Don’t devote yourself to one single cause at a time.

The world is full of experiences that are willing to share you with others.

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