I remember being a little boy darting after candy to the sound of marching bands as a tractor pulling a large float passed leaving a wake of candy that vanished nearly as fast as it appeared. As a local kid who grew up in Columbia, my associations with Mizzou homecoming have been limited to the non-student role, that usually consisted of a morning parade filling my pocket’s with candy, covering my chest with political stickers and paw prints, and finally, leading to a cold football game, if I was lucky enough to get a ticket.
How many homecoming games have I been to? How many parades? Who did I go with? All of these questions are the details that have fallen from my memory over the years. So where did I get such a vivid image of homecoming? Perhaps it is one of those memories so often created to draw attention away from the stresses of the past; like an argument with my mother before I was dropped off to go roam the crowds, which could have very plausibly occurred and in my mental review been looked over and forgotten when contrasted with the powerful images associated with parade.
My memory of such parades is as sweet as the candy I consumed when my bag and pockets began to bulge. The interesting thing about this memory is how it affected my homecoming this year, my first as a student. With the tiger’s football success in the 07’ season and the strong start to the 08’ season the bandwagon began rolling. During this year’s homecoming despite disappointing losses coming into the game, much local businesses capitalized on the opportunity to associate themselves with the team and the university by decorating their store fronts. This is something I hadn’t seen in years past. I feel it added to the atmosphere of anticipation for the parade and game, and by fostered a sense of belonging to a community of Mizzou supporters. This was coupled with the exposure a student gets to other homecoming week activities. Despite this exposure, I associated homecoming with Saturday’s activities disregarding the activities happening on school nights when I had homework to do. As a kid, I also had gone around watching the Greek house deck shows on one or two homecoming Fridays, however with Greek friend’s talk of hours pomping and prepping I was, by association, burnt out on the event before it happened.The one pre-Saturday event I did attend was the almost midnight breakfast. Although this event was associated with homecoming, free food events occur throughout the year, so it was all about the perfectly timed snack and not Mizzou.
Finally, Saturday morning arrived. My memories told me that the parade was the thing to do, so I bundled up and after several delays set out the door with my roommate in tow. With the dining hall closed until eleven our first task was to get food. We decided to make our way down towards the parade stopping at Hardee’s on the way. By the time we reached the parade route the tail end was all that was left. I walked into the rest of my usual football game day feeling at a loss for the same boyhood joy. However, I was also contented knowing that my appreciation for each stress, happiness, and other feeling creates a constant contrast that servers to emphasize each situation, making joys more joyous, sorrows more sad, and any other feeling more vivid. I remembered that regardless of what the dominating feeling is, I have the power to make each day memorable or forgettable.
