Michigan Nights

Honest, I wrote the posting this morning and for some reason I hit "save" instead of "publish."  So you got the story of the Indigo Bunting for yet another day.

So first of all, yesterday's ceremonies at Normandy were amazing.  The rows upon rows of white stone crosses, more than 9,000 of them, keeps telling the story of the day that Americans came to the aid of their friends.  We heard a very moving story about how the French children take part in D-Day remembrances every year, how they learn about what the Americans did to free them from occupation.  The kids in our schools should be doing the same in my humble opinion.

Another 14,000 remains were returned to the United States, per the request of family members.  Many of the 9,000 graves contain remains of a man unidentified, "known only to God," just as it says at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington.

So now -- here is Friday's posting and it will serve for Saturday too since we are traveling to Marblehead to spend the day with my sister.  I'm really looking forward to it.

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The last couple of days reminds me of how Michigan is during the summer.  When I was in high school, six of us girls traveled to Brighton, Michigan for a cheerleading camp. 

I love to tell this story because it creates such a contrast with how things are done today.  In the first place, the camp was discovered by one of our junior cheerleaders who had all the makings of a fine leader.  She thought it would be just wonderful if we could go to Michigan and learn new cheers, camp together and learn tricks from the UM cheerleading staff.

She sold us on the idea pretty quickly, and then we asked our advisor about it.  She agreed that it sounded like a terrific opportunity for us.  My sister and the parents weren't far behind in agreeing that this would be good.  I honestly think it only cost about $100.  But that was in 1963 so actually that $100 was worth more than $600.  My sister was so kind to make sure that I got to go!! 

So here's how it went.  We bought some outfits that matched, red shorts and pinstriped sleeveless shirts (once again the junior girl found at the mall).  We packed our stuff and piled into a car driven by one of the dads and got dropped off at the bus terminal in downtown Cleveland.  We took that bus so far, got on another bus, then another bus, and finally arrived at a spot in Brighton with a phone booth, called the camp and they came to get us.  By ourselves.  With no chaperones.  Honestly.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon I think it was.  Hard to remember.  Then we had camp for five days starting bright and early Monday morning and ending Friday night.  We left Saturday morning and did the same three bus rides home. 

What an experience!  One of the cheerleaders had a knack for drawing stick figures, and so she wrote down the movements for all of the new cheers we learned in that way.  Another one of the cheerleaders won first individual awards at camp, a high achievement.  On the last day of evening competitions, our squad won second place out of all the teams!  We had come a long, long way in just five days.

Then when we returned to Fairview, we were so excited to show our advisor our "stuff."  She was quite amazed and we organized a pep rally before school started to introduce the team and the new cheers.  It went really well.  I believe the cheerleaders went to the same camp the next year and placed highly.

That camp had a profound effect on me.  It instilled some much needed confidence and better yet, some real enthusiasm for whatever I was doing.  None of us were the worse for it, that's for sure.

For our memories, we all have a picture of our head cheerleader who won the first individual -- Kathy. 

I'll be seeing her at the reunion in September!  And also Colleen.

If I could give kids today a taste of what we had back then, I sure would.  There is something unbelievable about leaving Cleveland, Ohio, about six girls traveling across Ohio into Michigan, singing most of the way.  People trusted us.  That was the key.  And trusted that others would not bother us, and no one did.

Well, take care, friends.

Karen