Many years ago I was honored to be crowned the high school homecoming queen. At that time there was a state pageant for girls who received this title. The winner of that state title would fly to Hawaii for a national competition. It seemed like a long shot, but I had been in pageants and thought it would be fun to give it a try. Turned out I did win the title and that summer I was off to an island out in the Pacific Ocean.
I roomed with Miss Pennsylvania, Miss Colorado, and Miss Florida. In retrospect this was my first time to be introduced to such geographical diversity. We had breakfast each morning out on an open patio joined by Miss. South Carolina and Miss California.
Miss California brought her boyfriend along who stayed in another hotel. She was a short petite cheerleader and her boyfriend had been the quarterback. Miss Colorado had gone to a small private school like mine and was Morman. Ms. Florida reminded me of my close friend Tracy in looks and actions. She was turning 18 while we were there. The drinking age was 18 in Hawaii, but when she got back to Florida it would be 21 years old. So, aside from the Morman, you can see where teenage girl's minds would go.
Miss Pennsylvania was the one who suggested we figure out a way for Miss Florida to buy a drink before she went back home. Miss Pennsylvania was probably one of the worldliest people I had met by the age of 18. She had gone to a massive public high school, was very wealthy, had traveled overseas and had pretty much experienced life as a full-grown adult based on her stories.
What she did not know was what Miss South Carolina taught us at the breakfast table. We were to put our coffee cup upside down if we would not be drinking coffee that morning. She also showed us how to place our silverware on our china when we were done eating. This way the waiter knew to remove our place settings.
Miss Pennsylvania did think Miss South Carolina had a crush on her and was very distressed about this. I asked her why on earth she thought this, and she said it was because she winked at her every time they spoke. I explained to her that was a southern thing especially for girls who knew to turn their coffee cup upside down to communicate with the server.
Looking back on it with her winking eyes and nose in the air, I believe that was a tradition to keep from speaking to the help. But the help were cute Polynesian boys. That was probably the first time I drank coffee.
There were things we all did have in common like really big hair, blue eye shadow, black eye liner, and a love of music and movies. We liked boys. We liked Miss California's quarterback, and we swooned when our tour bus passed by the filming of Tom Selleck on Magnum PI. We saw Larry Bird laying out on the beach. And we actually got quiet when we toured Pearl Harbor. It was on this trip I met Miss Mississippi who I ended up going to college with for one year in Monroe.
While we were there a writer spoke at one of our dinners. He collected our information from the pageant organizers. It was his intention to do a story on the 50 of us in 20 years. As far as I know, that never happened. And by today's standards the whole idea seems sketchy.
But I have stopped and thought about that week I spent with those girls and where they might be today. Did Miss Florida go on to buy more drinks? Did Miss South Carolina continue to snub the help? Did Miss Pennsylvania end up in prison? Did the Morman have to share a husband?
At age 18 even I would not have guessed we would end up in my small-town newspaper nearly 40 years down the road.
