Is it just me??

Budman and I were walking to our car this evening, and we saw a sign for this place, advertising mums and garters.

Budman asked what that meant, and I just said "It's Homecoming season, dear."

He didn't know what I meant by that, and asked for more clarification. As I'm explaining Homecoming Mums/garters, I realize that he has ABSOLUTELY no idea what I am talking about.

Me: "Wait, what did y'all do for Homecoming in Arizona?"

Budman gave me a blank look, and I said "Let me guess, you never went to Homecoming, did you?"

Nope, he never went. He didn't spend much time doing "school activities" back then, he was on his own by the time he was 15, and was usually too busy working to pay bills to mess with that kind of stuff.

But that's not what bothered me about the whole conversation, it was the fact that he had NO CLUE what a Homecoming mum was.

So, I began to wonder - is this a Southern thing? a Texas thing? Budman's argument that they don't have a lot of fresh flowers in Arizona doesn't fly with me - we rarely used real mums anyway.

I clearly remember going to Michael's to pick out supplies to make a garter for whichever boy had asked me out for Homecoming that year.

mums, ribbons, lettering, bells, trinkets....

There's a tradition - you wear your Mum to school the day of Homecoming, and your friends choose a ribbon, and tie a one-handed knot in it. I can't find a reference to this online ANYWHERE, and I had almost forgotten about it.

I did some quick Googling, and most of the links that pulled up were for places in Texas. Hmmm... Even Wikipedia has only the smallest mention of Mums:

"At many high schools, especially in the southern United States, homecoming dates exchange "mums" on Homecoming Friday, to wear to the game and the dance. These are very elaborate corsages (for the girls) or garters (for the boys, worn on the arm) that consist of a large flower (usually a chrysanthemum) surrounded by a ribbon ruffle. Long ribbons, decorations and trinkets are hung from the mum which indicate the students' date of birth, name, class, interests, and messages towards other people."

So, I'm wondering:

Doesn't everyone do Homecoming Mums?

Is it just something we do here in Texas?

Is it really that big a deal that Budman hasn't heard of this? Since he's a guy, it's probably not as big a deal.

Did you have mums when you were in High school?

Were they made with real flowers or were they homemade?

I must know all about it.

----Wishing I had a scanner, because I KNOW I have a picture of at least ONE of the four mums I was given back then.----

**This year, Possum is not participating in Homecoming - at least he hasn't asked a girl to go with him or anything... Good thing I discovered Budman was clueless about this - I can pick up the slack whenever the time comes.