Friday Football Fun

Its 1985 and its Football Friday. I was on the JV Cheer leading squad. Marilyn Clayton, our sponsor, assigned each cheerleader a football senior whose locker you had to decorate. It was a thrill... super exciting... you actually got the key to get into their locker. You made posters and left them cookies... etc... what an ego trip. No wonder they had such an attitude. I had a super crush on the player that i was assigned.

I remember when I would pass him in the hall he would acknowledge me, I would be rendered speechless, butterflies and everything. (You have to right? I mean he got cookies, and balloons, and posters) When we would get to cheer the second half of the game with the varsity squad i would stare and hope that he too would be checking me out. No such luck for me. Today i can picture his face but for the life of me not his name. Young crushes fade but the memories of Football Friday will live with me forever.

Baby's Daddy

Sixteen Candles.....
One of my favorite movies from my adolescent years. Everyone remembers that Claire falls in love with the cute, older, poplar guy.... Jake Ryan. He was so dreamy. Remember at the end when she walks out of the church and he is standing there with his arms crossed against the sports car? They kiss over the birthday cake.... he was so cute.

Fast forward to 2006 ,I'm pregnant and i just cant decide about the baby's name. I float the idea of Jake Ryan past my husband, miraculously he agrees. Mistakenly i just assume that he has watched Sixteen Candles 50 times the same as me and he knows about the dreamy Jake Ryan.

So its official... the baby is named. My husband is a proud father for the second time. He goes to work and shows off the pics. When the women down the hall ask the name he replies, Jake. Jake what they say. Jake Ryan. "OH MY GOSH, I love him and i love that name! He was my favorite."

Now let me tell you it took me a good 2 months to convince my husband that in 2022 no 16 year old on the football/baseball/basketball team (they always think their boy will play it all) will know who the hell Jake Ryan on Sixteen Candles is. And Ill bet that if your a male that graduated in 1988 you don't either. But the girls.....they know.