It's Not Just Football...

September 03, 2017

THE day that is affectionately known to the Weatherly boys as "the best day of the year" was yesterday...the first Saturday of college football!

It is very rare that I sit at a keyboard on a weekend...but yesterday, kind of got me in the gut so I wanted to capture my thoughts here for a bit...I am finding it hard to keep the many memories running through my head to stay in order, but they need to come out!

So here we go...

College football...

College football games were some of my first memories with Ronnie and his father...Ole Miss, of course! The memories of the RV road trips coupled with cabins at Sardis Lake are certainly rolling through my catalog; one particular memory sticking out. Before we were married, we went with Ronnie's parents in the RV to Sardis Lake. I slept on the bed adjacent to the bed that Ronnie and his father slept on. I woke up in the middle of the night to see Ronnie and his dad sound asleep...and as I looked at them, I noticed Mr. Ron's arm was around Ronnie. It was so sweet that I even took a photo of them. I have it somewhere, but that memory is vividly floating around in my head.

Why? You may ask...

Well, because it was the first of MANY road trips to see the Rebels play...but it was also WHEN I realized it WASN'T just about a "football game" or even a "football team." It was about time together, it was about family. It was about the moments it created before, during and after...time that nothing else could replace.

This isn't the RV picture, but definitely one worth sharing...sleeping or awake, "I got you son!" (big mama tears!)

It was the beginning of something so beautiful that I would witness time and time again through the seasons...and then see come to fruition with my own children...

Pop, Dad and our boys...the perfect storm on college game days! The excitement was ridiculous! Ridiculous in a good way!

Let's go back for just a second...

I thought I would pass out the first drive up to Oxford because y'all...(dramatic pause, please!) they listened to the radio, ANY radio station that carried a ballgame...and no matter how much static the station had, they listened to it, loudly! (pre Sirius XM people!) And then proceeded to talk about it, play by play! I couldn't understand anything!!!

But now, I do! I understand it all...maybe not what is being broadcasted through the radio frequencies, but that isn't really what I needed to understand...

I needed to understand it wasn't "just college football!"

Pop, Ronnie, Nathan and Will have had some of the best times at ballgames in the bleachers, watching on TV, listening to the games on the radio and you bet ya', at any barbecue or wing joint around! The hours and hours of conversations before and after...play by play...season after season...priceless memories!

Those memories with Pop at Vaught Hemingway Stadium certainly were on the minds of our boys and Ronnie yesterday...

This is the first year in 27 years that Pop has not had season tickets and yesterday as they showed the fans in the stands, I wondered who was sitting in "Pop's seat?" I wanted them to scream "Hotty Toddy" when they needed to and yell at the refs when they needed to, just like Pop! He would expect nothing less!

Seriously!

When we go back to our first Ole Miss game, we will find our way to his seat and make sure the person sitting in it knows they have big ole' shoes to fill as a Rebel fan! And it would certainly melt our hearts to see a youngen' sitting nearby...just as Ronnie sat beside his dad and as our boys grew up sitting beside him and their Pops!

We miss Pop! This is a very different season of life for us..It is hard for Ronnie to be experiencing the "lasts firsts" with Nathan as a senior in high school and the "first of everything" without his father. Lots of change...it feels so different and it hurts. I won't lie, it's a tough season right now...

Yesterday while I was in the kitchen, Ronnie and the boys were sitting in the living room watching football when I heard the words come from Ronnie to Nathan that sprung tears to my eyes..."Nathan, will you be watching college football beside me next year?"
Oh Lord, mama tears!

This is the first year Ronnie is watching college football without his father...I guess that is why I keep going back to that first road trip to Oxford in the RV that I spoke about above when Mr. Ron had his arm around Ronnie...(big tears!) The moment I saw it all begin...

It's not just football!

That moment could not be replaced, but that moment certainly has been duplicated time and time again with our boys...and that is something that I wouldn't change for the world!

Nathan will be off to college himself next year and we don't know what next season brings...so we have to make sure we make the best of this one! We will cherish every season, holding close the "last season" we had with Pop and will carry on and covet the beautiful tradition he passed down to us...

As I close this post, I think ahead to the future with Nathan and with Will...I don't have to wonder if they will be carrying this tradition on with their family...I am certain of it and that makes me smile! Pop would like that too!

Y'all, it's not just football!