89'er Day

It's 89'er day in my small town.

It may very well be 89'er day across the state as well, since it's a celebration of the Cherokee Strip Land Run of April 22, 1889, that opened up the unassigned lands to settlement and basically settled the state of Oklahoma in a single cannon shot.

The notice we received from school read as follows:"Friday morning (during our recess) the kindergarten classes will participate in a mock land run. The children may wear western clothes."So last night we had to scramble around the house looking for something "89'er-ish" for C to wear to school today.

Her cowgirl outfit would have been her first choice last week, but this week we've been reading the Little House books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Translation - she wanted to be Half-pint. Pioneer dress, long stockings, pig tails, bonnet, the whole package.

Flash forward to our post-dinner search for something 89'er-rish for her to wear. We found an old, sorta pioneer-looking red printed dress that once belonged to my wife's aunt and was used as a costume in a film project she did awhile ago. A little short by 1889 standards, but suitable for a 21st Century girl. Perfect.

Dark blue stockings, perfect.

Flower print sun bonnet - 3 sizes too small, but C has a small head, perfect.

Black boots. Not lace up, but zippers are the modern day equivalent so all the better. Perfect.

Brown bonnet, red dress, hair in pigtails, blue stockings, black boots and her pink vinyl backpack. The Queer Eye Guys would be rolling their eyes, but our daughter happily marched off to school this morning, adorned in the best Laura Ingalls outfit that her folks could muster.

And to prove that our school''s administrators are ever vigil, the notice they sent home included the following passage near the end that read:
"PLEASE DO NOT send toy guns."We'll all be listening for the cannon firing this morning.