August 31, 2011

A year ago today, as I was driving south on Duval, I got a phone call from my Dad.  He was calling to tell me my grandma had passed away.  He had warned me to sit down or, if I was driving, to pull over, but I kept driving.  A few moments after he told me the news, I realized I had come to a stop in the middle of the road with cars starting to line up behind me wondering what I was doing.  I was stunned.  My grandma and I were so very close.  We could talk for hours about anything and everything, and she always knew what was bothering me without my having to say a word.  I miss her more than I can describe; it is amazing how strong the pain remains after a year.  To help ease it, I keep some of her things around me all the time.  This was her rosary; she always had one hanging from her rearview mirror and now this one hangs from mine.  Every time I look at it, I remember how I never understood how she could drive with one of these continuously clacking and wildly swaying from her rearview mirror; the memory always makes me smile.  

August 30, 2011

Can you hear that?  It is the sound of college football season rolling into town with its cheers, boos, trash talk, and, of course, beautiful passes, plays, and touchdowns.  This, my friend, is my favorite sound in the entire world.  At some point in high school, some switch flipped in my head, changing my mid-game banter from: "what's a first down?" to "well, that play didn't make much sense now did it, Greg Davis?"  My love of college football, especially of Texas football, grows exponentially every single season.  The rest of the year is simply filler and ridiculous fluff until fall.  I crave the heartache, the anxiety, the elation, and the bragging rights.  I'm thinking there will be more heartache and anxiety this season than there will be elation and bragging rights, but at the end of the day, it's still all worth it.  Come early, be loud, stay late, and wear burnt orange with pride.  Hook 'em Horns.