Homecoming weekend. It's a rite of passage for people in High School... starting with the Freshman year and running right up until the Senior year, it's a weekend of celebration when the football team comes HOME to play some football after being on the road for a few weeks... and it's also an excuse for the school to throw a party for the students who have been going fast and furious as a new school year gets underway.
Normally, it's a bit later into the year, but for some reason, Kyla's school had it's homecoming over the weekend... just three weeks into the new year. That seems sort of early to me, but hey, I don't make the rules.
Anyway, Kyla had planned on going with friends to the dance, in much the same way as she did last year. But that all changed on Friday night at the Homecoming Game... when her friend, Dean, I take it, suggested they should go to the dance together.
Kyla was pretty psyched about it. When she got back from the game, she bounded into the living room, where I was watching - and live Tweeting - our iHeartRadio Music Festival to let me know about the change in plans. There were some moving parts, including a dinner which would involve them all going to a local restaurant, and there were logistics as to who was taking whom where - and when... but all in all, things worked out the way they were supposed to work out... even with the last minute curve balls.
Saturday she got her nails done. Had a hair appointment. I ran to an appearance while she stayed home and handled her makeup and whatnot and then, I came back, picked her up and took her to the restaurant where they were to have dinner. Her friend/date was waiting there and he and his dad an I chatted it up a bit...
"I guess we need to give them their space," he said to me after I asked if I needed to go into the restaurant and handle paying or getting a gift card or whatnot... because, yeah, I've got that "i'll handle it" thing going on. That's when it hit me... Kyla - and her friends - are growing up.
Aside from taking here from place to place and of course, funding, things... she handled most everything for this weekend on her own. Sure, she had some dress help from Melissa Daddio, who is like the big sister resource for me in our family. Sure, she had a few hiccups and a few last minute plan-changes... because that's life, right? And sure, she ended up getting a Homecoming "DATE" as it were the night before... I guess that's life, right?
Saturday night, at about the time I was supposed to go to the school and pick her up, she called me with one more audible... she asked if she could spend the night with her friend in our neighborhood with whom she went to get her nails done. I was like "sure..."
As we made plans for a Sunday morning pickup, I poured a glass of wine and went back to watching the iHeartRadio Music Festival... Miley Cyrus was on... and she made a comment about how some of us watching might remember her as a character - Hannah Montana - from Disney. I recalled Hannah was one of Kyla's favorite people - and shows - once upon a time.
How far we've come....
It's still all about the climb.
What a weekend.
Thanks for reading...
-t.
tk@iheartradio.com