Let's go T-Bones ... Rah, rah, rah!

If you know me at all, you know I am not, nor was I ever, a cheerleader. Shocker, right? I never even really knew or hung out with cheerleaders. In fact, most of my ideas and preconceived notions of cheerleaders come from 80s and 90s TV shows and movies. (As readers might remember, I love me some 80s cheese movies!)

I do have to confess, though. I tried out for the cheerleading squad in 7th grade. (What?!? Yes, I know. It's a deep, dark, dirty secret of mine.) We had to make up our own cheer and perform it. Someone helped me make up a cheer, but I didn't think the basic "Go team, go!" was good enough. I added a bunch of other words in there to tell a better story. Then, when I got up to perform, I forgot half the words I added. Needless to say, I didn't make it. Eventually, I found my place in the world of words: the school newspaper. Much more appropriate, no? It seems I was less Saved by the Bell's Kelly Kapowski than 90210's Andrea Zuckerman, no matter how much I loved Tiffani-Amber Thiessen.

Kelly Kapowski

Andrea Zuckerman

Anyway, all this backstory to explain how I ended up enrolling Molly in a cheerleading camp this summer. See, a couple months ago, I got a message from a friend. Nickie has a daughter (Jensen) two months older than Molly. Nickie said she had signed Jensen up for cheer camp and that I should sign Molly up, too. I was shocked, because I never had even considered the idea. But, then, Nickie wasn't exactly a cheerleading-type, either. Plus, I wouldn't picture myself as a "cheer mom." I kind of pictured Dance Moms, but with cheerleaders.

But, in spite of myself, I signed Molly up. I didn't want to put my preconceptions (and bad junior high experiences) on Molly. And, who knows? Maybe she'd really like it.

She went to camp every morning for a week, then all the girls got to perform some cheers at the T-Bones game. (The T-Bones are our local Independent Baseball team.)

Turns out, Molly had a great time. She learned the cheers and dances, and knew them pretty well when it was game time. She seemed to like performing, though she never did master the art of smiling while doing moves. She liked the jumps and kicks, and now Charlotte is even running around "doing cheers" like Molly.  And, the cheer coach was really nice - not at all like Sue Sylvester from the Cheerios.

Performing on the last day of camp.

Top That

The other night at dinner with some friends, we started talking about movies of our childhood. I'm not really sure how the conversation even began. What is it about movies or TV shows from childhood that can bond people and bring up such happy memories? Everyone immediately starts sharing which shows they loved or which movies their parents wouldn't let them watch. Which ones they watched continually and which ones they were forced to watch by their sister.

So, we were drinking, talking and reminiscing about which 80s movies we had or hadn't seen. It soon became clear that I have seen every girly 80s movie made. Well, the good ones anyway. Apparently, I'm a connoisseur of girly 80s movies. Is there such a thing?

I don't know if there is, but I do love me some classic 80s movies. Nothing can put a smile on my face faster than flipping through the channels and finding a showing of Dirty Dancing. Especially the dance lesson montage scene. Or 16 Candles? Who didn't want to sit with Jake Ryan on their glass dining room table and blow out the candles on their 16th birthday? Um, I know I did.

One of my friends hadn't seen Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Are you kidding me? I do believe that is sacrilege. How can you not have seen that bastion of 80s awesomeness with Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt and Shannon Doherty? Classic.


But, one of my favorite movies from the annals of 80s moviedom is actually a lesser-known Hollywood production. Shockingly, despite the awesome singing, dancing and rapping throughout the movie, not one actor "broke out" after the movie. And, not so shockingly, only one of my friends had seen it. Here goes, with full confession, one of my favorite 80s movies of all time is ... Teen Witch.