"It was very fun!" she told us excitedly. "Mallory looks so great and her best friend was covered in mumps that she got from her boyfriend."
"OH MY GOD!!!" I blurted out, surprised that she was at the game in that condition.
Danny joined the conversation. " I gave them to my girlfriend in high school too."
"You did??" I gasped, now even more surprised. "So is this something that's just common in Texas?" I asked.
"I'd say so." Danny answered. His mom nodded her head in agreement.
"Huh......" I said, taking it all in. "So is it basically just like the chicken pox then?" I asked, horrified but intrigued at the same time.
"WHAT?" my mother-in-law exclaimed, she now confused too.
"Oh my god." said Danny. "She thinks we said mumps. Look at her. Look how confused she is. No, honey. We're saying mums. MUMS." he said slowly, over pronouncing each syllable. "Flowers."
I've since googled "mums." (Mumps too, actually.) But I'm relieved to tell you this is the sort of thing they were talking about.
Homecoming "Mums" |
Person with "mumps." |
Though I'll have to ask Mallory to be sure, I'm pretty sure mums, (as opposed to mumps), make homecoming a bit more fun.
And that friends, has been "Texas Traditions 101". I hope you've enjoyed it, but more importantly, I hope you've learned something.
I'm also a transplant from the Midwest to Texas, and I have to admit I found the whole mum thing quite odd. My small town growing up in Illinois we got an actual real mum for homecoming, but it wasn't as tricked out as these Texas bling ones. Guess it's true everything is always bigger in Texas.
ReplyDeleteAgreed Tabatha. High schoolers are so fancy now!!! In my high school dance days, students were more concerned about underage drinking and premarital sex than flowers. What is the world coming to???
ReplyDeleteI just tossed out my mums from my junior and senior prom during a moving purge session. I don't even know why my mom kept them...what am I supposed to do, display them somewhere? It's not like I married either of the guys I went with those years. LOL
ReplyDeleteI like how one of my other friends described this - it was as if "Hobby Lobby exploded on these girls."
ReplyDelete~EdT.
Are there people under those things??
ReplyDelete