The MOST Pathetic!

I have discovered the absolute most pathetic thing in the world. I have seen it. I have actually been a party to it - yes, I know the most God-awful thing known to man and/or woman, and it is this: To see older women (myself and neighbor) doing cartwheels because we still can. We were also doing round-offs, and even the side and front splits - again, because we still can! We had the best of times, we had a blast, and we were, if you can imagine it, successful at our craft and form...but we were by nature GROSS! LOL

Carla and I were outside in the commons this evening and with the weather being fickle, not knowing if it should rain, spit or be clear, we were feeling a little fresh and frisky ourselves. One topic of school and cheerleaders led to our mutual admittance to having been a part of that circle of girls back in the day (many many days ago for me) and we began recalling cheers we knew. Because I'm older than my good neighbor I was able to recall some extremely lame cheers, ones that set her cackling into tears as she recalled having made grave-fun of our group, the 70's bunch...let me see if I can tempt you to giggle. READY? OK!

"P-A-R-T-Y Party Hearty at Patriot High, said P-A-R-T-Y Party! And when we party, we party hearty, and when we jam, we don't need no ham, and when we boogie, we boogie woogie." (Then there's this little dance thing where each cheerleader comes out and introduces herself. Mine was really lame, a real 70's themed introduction dealing with ham radios.) "Breaker 1-9 to the Warrior team, our handle is the Patriots and we're really mean. Don't 10-3-6 for that score we're on the deck, hit the floor. My name is Jude, gotcha covered, we're rolling through - 10-4"

YES YES YES...we were that bad! Say it out loud, we were the most hilarious women out there tonight - and we loved it. Carla did her round off and introduced herself in her little cadence, I did mine and repeated it, then we did the splits to impress our other neighbors. Oh, and we couldn't forget the way that other cheerleaders would come over to the visitor's side and take the girls back to the home side to introduce them to the home audience. We did that back in the day without fighting and cat-scratching, we were actually amicable....really sweet!

"Hey you Patriots - listen to Carla from the Warrior team. She's here to show you what it really means to be wearing the gold, to be wearing the green" (We were blue and gold) So then Carla did her "Howdy Pats, we're over there, you'll see us play and meet your dare. You'll thank us when we leave your field, we're taking the win and leaving our shield" it was cute...I liked it. Ours was much more...nerdy. "Yeah Hey Warriors you're OK, but sit back down and watch us play! We're not here to stay too long, we'll win this one and say so-long! So-long, so-long" and then you do the back-hand springs all the way to the middle of the field and run back to your side, it was sooooooo 70's. I loved it.

When I watch That 70's Show I can relate to some of it more than I can to most of it. I think they need more football, that would make me happy. I breathed it, ate it, drank it, lived it....loved it. Still do, but something tells me that the little bit of movement and dancing we did wouldn't hold a flame to the great gyrations being demonstrated on the field today. I am BLOWN away by the girls and the guys that get out there and kick butt on the cheer squad...serious athletes! SSSOOO much better than I could ever have imagined to be. It's like watching an old tape of Olga Korbit (who?) and then seeing the new 2008 American Gymnastics team...and just standing there with my mouth on the ground. (and I thought I was cool because I could stand on my hands and put my feet on my nose!)

Suffice it to say that when I move from this location I will take the memories of me and my neighbor with me, but perhaps never embarrass myself to this degree again. It is fun though knowing that I can still physically do a few things...at this age.