Relic from the past

I was in high school in the mid- to late-1990s, when scrunchies could be worn unironically and were considered an integral part of my school's cross-country uniform.

These weren't just your garden-variety scrunchies, either; they were painstakingly pieced together with scraps of cloth in my high school's colors and tied around a ponytail. It had the unintended effect of looking like your ponytail was in the middle of a fireworks display, courtesy of Joann's.

The scrunchies were also a way to show people how long you've been on the team; the more scrunchies you had (either on your hair, if you were feeling ambitious, or tied around your gym bag), the more "senior" you were. We'd totally squeal with delight when someone made new scrunchies for the team, especially if they used embellishments like random colored cloth or plastic gold holders. (Now that I've actually typed out that last sentence, I just feel dead and sad.)

The thing is, those scrunchies would create knots in my hair like you wouldn't believe. Strands would get stuck as I tried to twist the thing around my ponytail, and more times than not, I had to physcially cut my hair from the scrunchie. If the cloth wasn't tied properly to the ponytail holder, it would fall off during practice. Also, they'd get yellow from the sweat if worn during an actual race, and popping them in the wash usually meant they'd fall apart.

I actually brought a few scrunchies with me when I went to college, as I was under the naive (re: stupid and sheltered) view that they weren't weird, and every other gal on the team would have one. I showed up to practice the first day, and one of my teammates said "What's....that? In your hair?" in the same tone of voice you'd use to notify an acquaintance that a bird pooped on their head. Embarrassed, I took it off and resolved never to wear it again. That was high school, and this is college, I reasoned; never the twain shall meet.

I bring this all up because I unearthed a scrunchie from the bowels of my basement* the other day. It was yellowed and probably covered with salt crystals, and while I happily threw it away (because seriously, that's just nasty to keep that around), I was also sad to see a memento from my high school years go by the way of the garbage can. I mean, I still have my class ring and yearbooks! Somewhere! I'm obviously somewhat sentimental about that stuff, but time and place, let's move on, etc.

*The question then remains as to WHY I still have said scrunchie, despite going to college, then moving back home, then moving to an apartment with Josh, then moving to my current home. Organizational skillz, I have 'em.