Day 6 of 10

Gator Football

Since it is a Saturday during football season, and only makes sense that my happy memories today be about Gator football. Jared and I were both huge Gator fans. His papa played for the Gators and then later came back to coach there, so it was truly in his blood. After having gone to college there, football became a way of life. Jared and I had our first date to the Kentucky vs Gator game and then two years later we are married on the Kentucky vs Gator game weekend. I even made sure my garter was blue. And we have a picture of all of our friends who went to us doing the Gator Chomp at our wedding. We loved our Gator football.
Saturdays are always made up of watching the Gators either in the swamp or on TV. Except there for a while I have as not allowed to watch the Gators on TV. It seemed like everytime I would watch them on TV and they would lose so Jared decided that I could not watch them on TV. One day he was watching them in the living room and I was doing something in the kitchen and he told me to get out of the house that I was bad luck  in football. So I went out into the garage and the next thing I know I hear him yell "get out of the house, Carla.   You can be nowhere near the TV.". It was so funny. And he was absolutely serious. He wanted me out of the house so I would not be bad luck for our beloved Florida Gators.  We used to meet our friends every Saturday home game for tailgating. If it was a late game we would start around noon and bring the grill, the TV, and the tent. If it was an early game we would start about 8 and have kegs and eggs. Saturday Gator football was an all day event.  Our Saturdays from September to November were always up about Gator football.
Our tradition continued when Steven was born. Steven was born in May and in September he attended his first Gator game. And it became a way of life for us.  We sat in the same seat for years and we knew everyone around us and they would all talk about Steven, bring him treats, sneak him in snacks. When he was two and we were having a really bad season, Steven had a shirt that said put me in coach. The people that sat around us used to joke that when Steven played football for the Gators, on senior day our whole section was going to come down because they felt like they had raced him too. We have many wonderful memories of that swamp. We sat there in the cold, in the rain, and through some horrible losses, but more importantly through some awesome amazing wins.
In 2006 we were given the opportunity to go to Phoenix Arizona to watch the Gators play for the national championship. Of course we went, I took vacation from work we loaded up the boy, and off we went to Phoenix. What an unbelievable experience e had there. When we walked into the stadium there were alot of Ohio State fans sitting in our Gator section. And Steven, who wasn't quite 2 yet, said "mommy don't they know orange and blue, go Gators?".  I said "no honey they don't know orange and blue go Gators." And then of course, the game turned out just the way we wanted it and the Gators were kicking Ohio State ass. So some of the Ohio State fans begin to leave in the third quarter and one fan stopped and looked at Steven and said I should have known orange and blue go Gators. We turned that trip to see the Gators play into a family vacation including the Grand Canyon and Sedona. It was a wonderful time. And as I look back I feel very blessed that we got to experience it as a family.
For me Gator football will always include Jared.  I know he is cheering from heaven.