My Life Has Come Full Circle

Dearest Friends and Loved Ones,

Today is a strange, strange day. Let me give you some background information. I am from Fitzgerald, Georgia, a community of approximately 9,000 lovely people. I went to Fitzgerald High School, the only school in the town, where I was a Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane. Amen.
Fitzgerald loves football like a cheerleader loves pom poms, and because Fitzgerald has only one high school, nearly all of its citizens attended FHS and were Hurricanes themselves. This makes Fitzgerald football different, I think. It is a community event. Fitzgerald is 'Cane Country.

Anyone from Fitzgerald will quickly tell you that our biggest football rivals are the neighboring Irwin County Indians. On the day that Fitzgerald was to face off against the Indians, we always had a pep rally...a really long pep rally. Did you know that all school systems are allotted a certain number of bad weather days that the schools are allowed to miss without making the day up, for snow days and weather emergencies? We did not have school on the day of the Fitzgerald v. Irwin County pep rally. We screamed in the gym until it was time for lunch. It was counted as a bad weather day. After all...a Hurricane was coming ;)

Please excuse these pictures. They are courtesy of Jonathon Walker, Facebook, and 1999. I want you to experience the Irwin County pep rally with me...

Here are the cheerleaders. Yes, they are carrying a coffin. Do you know what it's for? That's right, the Indians...'cause we're gonna kill em!

Do you see the red flag in the background? That's a hurricane warning flag. You have to warn people before a storm hits...it's the right thing to do.

There's the coffin again, but behind it you can see the picture of the Indian. You'll notice that he's been burned at the stake. Looking back on this, we may have been a bit drastic. Drastic and violent.

That's our principal in the purple sports coat. He's wearing it because our school colors are purple and gold, not because he's trying to channel Austin Powers or something.

I don't have a picture, but we also had paper Indians stuffed with red feathers. The football players ripped them to shreds, sending feathers flying everywhere. It was metaphorical.

These are losers. Losers get trampled in the hallways under mighty Hurricane feet.

Cheerleaders and football players doing some kind of rain dance, maybe? I don't really remember. It is also possibly the Macarena. Oh how we loved the Macarena.

Here is the distinguished Mayor of Fitzgerald. Yes, the mayor...at the pep rally. I don't think that you can understand this unless you've lived it. He is there to declare that it is "Hurricane Day" or "Kill the Indians Day" in Fitzgerald.

These are great high school memories and funny stories. Here's where things get weird, though. Tonight, the private school where David teaches is having their first football game of the season. They are playing the Irwin County Indians. My life has come full circle. I am at odds with the Indians, yet again.

To be totally honest, I'm not so sure how their going to do. I need them to beat the Indians. I don't like to lose to the Indians. But today, at their sweet Christian school pep rally, they will probably pray for the Indians' safety instead of symbolically putting them in a coffin, burning them at the stake, or even tearing them up and trampling them underfoot. I'm not sure if they will be ready. Maybe they will at least do a Macarena rain dance. One can only hope.

Purple and Gold Forever,

Melissa

PS: One day I will tell you where I was during this pep rally, but not today. You're not ready for it.