Every weekend from August to January we have plans. Actual plans. Not just "oh we may or may not be doing something." No this is Type-A - Set - In -Stone plans. They aren't even plans made by me, really. The University of Alabama owns my Saturdays during these months. What I love is not only the boys on the field, but that these plans are not only best laid they are best overall. They are set in stone in that I know for a fact that for 3.5 hours the University of Alabama owns my attention but I also know that around those 3.5 hours I find myself in a bevy of the most wonderful activities...
Every Saturday we wake up, sometimes at home if the game is in Tuscaloosa, sometimes in a hotel room as we travel to whatever town is hosting us. We have breakfast, catch College Gameday and begin the day with whichever games are the early ones. There are days where I see my kitchen and listen more than see the other games. Where scents of delicious tailgate food wafts through my home. There are days where before or after the game some shopping takes place. It may be to familiar stores or perhaps discovering a wonderful place specific to the region. We meet new people and catch up with familiar faces. We host family members and friends. We get grouchy when the game goes in a bad direction and euphoric when it goes our way. Your emotions ride a wonderful roller coaster of fandom unlike any other. ALL these factors, ALL these variables could make some people go crazy...
Yet somehow every weekend, even when the work week has been crazy, even when the weather has played ping pong with my sinuses, even when airports make you really wonder how trains might be, even when the season is not as great on the field as you hoped...it still ends up being a time where memories are created, moments are suspended in time and life reminds me how beautiful it is to love something completely out of my control ...
ROLL TIDE!
