Trophy Mom

Granny Hat is a trophy mom.  She has been harboring quite an annoying accumulation of trophies, saving them for posterity, for the memories, for who knows what.  Before cavalierly sweeping them away in the Feng Shui tradition, she paused to wonder…..where does our habit of giving and displaying trophies come from?

The word trophy derives from the Latin word “trophaeum” which means “a monument dedicated to a victory”.  Certainly, throughout history, trophies have been a way to commemorate milestones and winners. In ancient Greece, the victors would gather captured arms, banners and sometimes more gruesome spoils to display, humiliating the defeated enemy and serving as a warning, don’t mess with us!  It was common to inscribe details of the battle on such  monuments documenting victory and declaring supremacy.

Later, trophies were awarded to winners in the Olympic Games, laurel wreaths, amphora containing olive oil, bronze shields or silver cups.  Silver medals were given to first place winners when the modern Olympics were formed in 1896. This was because silver was a more precious metal than gold at the time.  If only the trophies Granny found the other day were made of silver, gold and bronze. The awards of modern times may glitter under the stage lights but they are cheaply made, really flimsy and fake.

Granny’s children accumulated their share of trophies over the years, largely for Instrumental Music Festivals, Community Theatre and County Science Fairs. Granny’s daughter Melody admitted that she noticed that different colors of trophies were given for each field of science represented at the fair and it was her goal to get one of each. Granny had no idea that this was the motivation behind choosing a botany experiment one year and a chemistry the next.

Granny’s other daughter, Corrie, remembers that certain community organizations and companies would donate monetary prizes or gifts like Bushnell binoculars. She loved the gifts more than the trophies and would spend hours musing about what sort of science project would catch the deep pocket eye. Her experiment with homing pigeons titled HOME SWEET HOME, won her the coveted binoculars.

Still, walking about wearing Bushnells around your neck is hardly a billboard that says “I just won first place and best of show in the Zoology division of my San Benito County Science Fair”.  But a gleaming trophy with a bronze muscle man, angel wings, a bowling ball or a harp! Now that announces WINNER loud and clear for all to hear! Maybe this is why Americans love trophies so much, we love bragging rights! Maybe the glow of firelight on their polished surface warms our hearts. Maybe a trophy brings out the conquering hero in all of us, reminds us that we can and have achieved something. Or do we just love to dust and polish?  Granny got tired of that, which is why the awards have spent the last 10 years in deep dark boxes where they aren’t bringing joy to anyone.  They can’t even inspire admiration or jealousy from our friends and enemies hidden away like that.

Anyway, the kids never looked all that happy holding their trophies or certificates high for the photo shoot after a music invitational festival or honor band/honor choir concert. Granny suspects they were thinking, “I just gave up an entire weekend, stuck in a musty ancient auditorium for hours of rehearsal surrounded by geeky band kids and driven to distraction by an eccentric director dressed in flowery silk with orange-ish hair and huge hoop earrings. Can we go home now? And can we stop for pizza or a burger on the way?”

Ribbons are the way to go, they lay flat in scrapbooks, take up no space and weigh nearly nothing.   But if you insist on bragging rights, a fleet of “my kid did such and such” bumper stickers are a great choice.  They come in all shapes and sizes but are still low impact. They proclaim your kids’ talents and achievements to a captive audience, the other motorists who can’t refute your claims to your face.

Wonder what Marie Kondo would say about bumper stickers?  They look messy and you can’t neatly roll them in color-coordinated rows so she probably doesn’t approve.  However they DO send messages and sometimes even cause fender benders.

Granny’s trophies themselves have run out of sparkle but what they represent is joy that can’t be lost.  All the music, the shows, the friends and teachers, hypotheses and experiments are not forgotten.  Beloved teachers and friends that participated in the success made an impact on Granny’s family.  Those memories are trophies indeed, the lessons learned are monuments to childhood well spent.  Granny Hat can kiss the trophies and say goodbye.  The photos, ribbons and the Bushnell Binoculars stay!