Keeping It In The Family

A mom of two boys doesn't have much she can pass along to her kids.  I envision saving my jewelry, china and other fine things I've accumulated for granddaughters or maybe nieces.  Mom saved all my old smocked dresses just in case I had a girl of my own, but they've since been reboxed and put away for Emily, who I pray will be blessed with a house full of girls for me to spoil.  However, when I came across this prized possession on one of my visits to Paris, I couldn't pass it up.  FINALLY something I could hand down to my boys.

I was just days shy of turning 5 years old when Bear Bryant coached his last game as Alabama's football coach here at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.  Somehow I ended up with a shirt from the game, however, I'm pretty sure we didn't go.  As monumental of a game that was in Alabama's football history, I don't remember it at all.  That sounds obvious considering my age at the time, but the legend died shortly after that last game and I do remember his death, his highly publicized funeral and watching my daddy truly mourn the loss of this man that he never met.  To this day, when he visits Bryant Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, tears come to Daddy's eyes when they play the Bear's voice in pregame.

As a lifelong Alabama fan born, raised and currently residing in the state of Tennessee, the fact that my family wears crimson rather than orange and yells "Roll Tide!" instead of "Go Vols!" not only puzzles most of our family and friends, it down right irritates them, my own husband included!   Travis is a great sport and allows my family and me to dress the boys in crimson and I do the same for him.  Jack is actually at an age where he somewhat understands that Mommy likes a different team than Daddy and some days Jack says "Go Vols!" and wants to wear orange and others he yells "Roll Tide!" with his Bama jersey on.  In all honesty, I don't care who the boys end up cheering for and I will totally understand if they want to side with Travis and make that a standing tradition of something they share with their daddy.  That's how it is for me, so I get it.  From an early age, Daddy was taking me to Bama games.  I remember betting pennies on the UT/Bama game with kids in the carpool and I'll never forget my senior classmate Vols fans showing up on my lawn singing "Rocky Top" when UT finally beat Bama in 1995 after years of it going the other way.  However, until I have those girls to shower with my finer things or until my boys start objecting to me showering them in crimson, this is one tradition I am very much enjoying passing onto Jack and Marshall while it lasts.