Saturday, November 3, 2012

Touchdown Kansas City!!!!

I just finished watching my favorite football movie of all time, Rudy.  It got me thinking about my love for football.  My earliest memories of watching football were as a child.  I watched the Dallas Cowboys with my my cousin Frances' husband Al.  Frances and Al were more like an aunt and uncle to me.  She was actually my mom's cousin, and she married a Texas rancher.  He loved watching his Cowboys, and I loved watching with him.  I also started watching the Chiefs at a very young age with my Uncle Herb.  He lived near Kansas City and got the games on television before we were able to on the Topeka stations, so when we went to his house on Sundays, we always watched together.  Once I was in Jr. High, football was a really big deal in Burlingame.  Both years I was in Jr. High our High School Team went to the state playoffs, and my 8th grade year, we won state.  Then in High School, I was a Twirler and in the Marching Band, so of course I went to all of the games.  I don't remember specifically learning the rules, guess I just picked them up as I went along.  In High School, we did play Powder Puff Football a couple of years, so I'm sure I learned some then.  When I was seriously considering going to college, I wanted to be a sportswriter.  I was even the Sports Editor for our high school newspaper!  And now I really hope none of you have any old copies of that paper laying around to go read my stories.  At the time I thought I was hot stuff, but now, eh.  Those old stories are pretty lame!   After high school I dated a football coach for a while, so naturally the games were a big part of my life.  For some reason, I was never a big Chiefs fan growing up.  My favorite team for years was the Washington Redskins.  I'm sure having Kansas John Riggins play for them didn't hurt, not to mention they were always in the Playoffs, and won a couple of Super Bowls.  It's always much easier to root for a winning team, as we all know.  Hmm, that brings me to the last few seasons as a Chiefs fan.  It's not easy people.  I'm sure many of you are Chiefs fans too and know just what I'm talking about.  As hard as it is to watch them play these days, I'll never forsake my team.  There's nothing worse than a fair weather fan.  If you can't support your team when they're down, you don't deserve to be there when they're winning.  Those guys need their fans more than ever these days.  One of the best things I did was pass my love for football on to my daughter.  I love watching games with her, and am so proud that she understands the game and has the same passion for it as I do.  Too bad her dad doesn't share our love for football.  Greg of course is not a sports fan in way, shape or form.  But he hates football more than anything.  I can't help but think it's partly because we love it so much.  If he has to, he'll sit and watch basketball or baseball on television.  In fact, at one time he was actually a fan of the Royals, and went to a few games with me.  But if there's football on TV, he leaves the house.  Poor guy just doesn't know what he's missing!  At this point in the season, about the only thing I'm looking forward to is getting a first round draft pick and signing an awesome quarterback.  If the Chiefs screw that up by winning a few games. oh well!  I'll just have to enjoy watching them win!  Oh who am I kidding?  LOVE YOU CHIEFS!!!!!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Time Marches On

yeah yeah yeah, I know. it's been a while.  moving on.....

It is November 1, which I suppose means the Holiday Season has officially begun.  What that means for me, first and foremost, is it's time for my annual house cleaning to begin.  Yep, time to dust, vacuum and mop.  Oh, and wash curtains and rugs.  And make my bed. And if you think I'm kidding, well you don't know me very well.  I'm hosting the Granger/Crook Thanksgiving Dinner on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  Nothing like getting it out of the way!  Wait, that sounds like I'm not looking forward to it, and that couldn't be further from the truth.  I love having everyone over for the day.  I don't even mind cooking.  Now if I could just hire someone to come in and get my house ready for it, life would be perfect!  These get-togethers remind me of my childhood.  We always spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with my mom's brother Herb and  his family.  All these years later, it's not quite the same with Uncle Herbie and my Dad both gone, but spending the day with my favorite cousins is something I never get tired of!  

Plans for the Bryson Thanksgiving are still up in the air.  This will be our 3rd Thanksgiving without Janette, and I'm afraid they will never be the same.  She loved having her family over for big holiday dinners.  She cooked for days in advance, always had her house decorated for the occasion, and dressed for the holiday! Family dinners at her house were the one constant in our lives.  We always knew what to expect and she never disappointed us.  A big turkey, ham too, mashed AND scalloped potatoes, a hot vegetable, plus green bean casserole, because she knew I didn't like very many vegetables, but I'd eat that one!  She always made this salad with lemon jello and cottage cheese.  I think it had green peppers and pimento in it.  It was a strange little dish I'd never heard of before, but it was yummy!  And then there were the pies.  and cakes.  and all the other desserts.  Then we'd spend the afternoon sitting around the table talking, having more dessert and coffee, until it was about 4:30 and it was time to start getting supper on the table.  No one was leaving her house without eating supper, no matter how full you were!  We'd have sandwiches with the left over meat, potato salad, coleslaw, green salad, and always always always cheese and crackers.  You were lucky if you did have to roll away from her table!  

I miss her most in the fall.  We always spent more time together during harvest, sitting around waiting for the guys to need us.  And I'm sure with November 7 looming in the near future, she's on my mind even more.  I look at Chloe and I'm just so sad that they never knew each other.  Carter brought so much joy to her life, and Chloe would have doubled that joy.  Especially last night.  She would have laughed at Carter in his cowboy getup, and oohed and awed over Chloe's butterfly costume.  I'm almost as sad for what she's missing as I am for those of us who loved her and miss her every day.