This Time

I can remember this time last year. TCU's new stadium was due to debut, M and I bought season tickets with his parents and my brother and we were about to head to College Station to see A&M play Florida.

That morning was quite funny as I woke up to the sound of the Aggie Marching Band playing the war hymn at eh 7am.... Typical M. We donned our game day apparel, packed a lunch and got in the car to make the drive. We stopped so I could take a picture of the barn, said a quick hello to my mom in Calvert and then made it his mecca.

I can remember every other Saturday for the next 4 months. They began and ended with college football, from the Game Day song to the last seconds of the last game, college football was king of the house. Chloe curled up on the couch with M and I posted up in the bedroom to read or sleep (mostly sleep). Or if we headed to the Fort for TCU games we arrived about 30 min before kickoff and often exited before the clock wound down.

This time last year I had no idea how much my life would change. I had no clue it would be the last time I would put on maroon and lock legs with strangers, I had no clue it would be the last time I forced my husband to endure a TCU game, I had no clue it would be the last time I would twirl at TCU and M wouldn't be there to see it. I had no clue it would be the last time I would become a college football widow.

It hit me this morning that I would begin the first college football season in 7 years alone.

I was sad for a moment. As much as I used to complain (ok I did more than complain I may have whined, nagged, shouted, er ya know) about losing pretty much every Saturday from Labor day to January 8, it was all I knew.

So, this time when that familiar song comes blaring through my TV, or when Dr. Lou imparts wisdom on the masses, or Corso dons the headgear I will look back not with sadness, but with fond memories of a helmet on the coffee table, my puppy girl wearing the gear of the 12th man or a grown man with a phone glued to his ear acting like a 5 year old at Christmas.

Because of him I know what a spread offense is, I know TCU runs a 4-2-5 defense, I learned about the red zone, the option, when to run and when to throw, and most of all I learned that there is nothing in the world like watching 90,000 people sway in harmony. Thanks M.

It's college football season y'all. Wives embrace it, men don't get too wild, and Wear Purple, yell loud and Fear the Frog.