Once Upon A Memory...

The theme for Homecoming this year at East Texas Baptist University was "Once upon A Memory". I loved the idea of this theme because I am always flooded with memories when I return to "The Hill". Being on the Alumni Council has also allowed me to hear about generational memories from a wide variety of Tiger Alums. And the neat thing is that we continue to make memories still. I agreed to help some of my buddies, Michael and Jordan, who are current students, with their float for the homecoming parade. All entries had to be about a fairytale and the one my friends chose was Little Red Riding Hood.

We gathered ideas and supplies Thursday evening and began construction around 10:00 that night. The harsh reality that college kids can stay up really late and I am no longer a college kid began to sink in. Construction required cutting plywood with an electric saw. I was worried we would make too much noise and awaken the babies that live across the street, so we hauled the wood indoors and made the necessary cuts inside our sun room. Then the cut sheets were then noisily fastened together with a power screwdriver. We set a watchman outside the door to make sure the sounds weren't too loud. Several more wee hours were spent painting the plywood "cottage", distressing the tin roof, and attaching a chimney stack that would actually have smoke rising from it.


I had already planned to take a personal day from school on Friday to gear up for the busy weekend; little did I know that I would spend the whole day creating costumes and props. The float boys returned to my house at 10:00 am and set to work. Windows were cut and framed, then the door was painted and mounted with a handle. I worked on making a wolf mask and a hooded cape for "Red". I also pressed curtains for the windows and found baskets for the window boxes.


I left them to their work as I went to the campus to enjoy the Friday night festivities. When I returned (about 11:00), the float boys were busy making finishing touches and loading Grandma's cottage and garden into the float trailer.


As we sat waiting for the parade to pass on Saturday morning, I could hardly wait to see the finished product. It was a lot of work and required a lot of creative energy, but it was so much fun.


When we arrived home Saturday afternoon, Esther was thrilled to find that the boys had placed the cottage in our yard for her to use as a playhouse....


and we got to keep the wolf mask, too.