I don't think we could have gotten a more perfect day for our family. The weather was beautiful, we got to see Sam, and a full full day of family. It did begin very early that morning, as we were manning the Campus Drive Deck with the scouts. But again, it could not be any better, some of our best friends, the Griswolds, were also at the deck with us. We arrived at the deck at 5:45AM since this was an 11AM kickoff, so yes, we were out of the house around 4:15AM, and I think everyone back asleep but me by 4:20AM.
At the deck, while waiting for Mr. George to get back with our signs and more importantly...Breakfast from Jacks, Sam came over from his parking job to visit with us. At this point he had been up for almost 24 hours, but looked wider awake than any of us. He just has a bounce to his step while on campus that I really love to see. He has really loved the campus, and I think was also happy that this was his last night on his parking job for the football year. I thought he might return to his dorm for a quick few hours of sleep, but in Sam fashion he said it was just not worth it for an 11AM kickoff.
So even better, Sam stayed and worked our gate with us. And what do you do when you are not scanning cars in for this job, you sit and talk and chat. You take the springy yellow car barrier and shoot cans and paper as far as you can (Sawyer and Davis). You take turns getting to talk to Mr. George...He is the scoutmaster, and one of those guys that just connects well with everyone. I was a little jealous one time when I looked over and both Sam and Davis were chatting with George...but not jealous of their time, more jealous because I was not getting to tell George about my recent adventures in St. Louis. And Magan and Michelle and Belle just had girl chat laid back in their chairs the whole morning.
But the worker on this day was Ruby. Mr. George came over and asked if she wanted to scan the vehicles in and that just made her day. And from the smiles of all the people she scanned in, I would say it made their day just a bit better. Ruby would scan them in, then when approved, say "Have a nice Day" in her cute little voice. And by the end of the day, she was knocking out most of the cars during the busy period all on her own.
And then it was gametime, and we were 1 short of tickets, but with our passes and Sam's extra pass, 5 lower bowl level tickets was pretty good. We began our walk to the stadium, with plans that I would scalp a ticket to get into the game. And at the stadium, we parted ways, and I quickly found a scalper...but then I learned that no one uses paper tickets anymore, even the scalpers just hold fake tickets because old people like me are looking for them. I needed one in the lower bowl, and got one for $40 (should have got one earlier in the day for $32 off same website [seatgeek] scalper transferred ticket to me from)...but now I had a ticket, should be easy to get to the family...right??
It was not. The rest of the family made it in right after kickoff, but my ticket took me to the extreme far gate as far as you could walk. Then when I got to that gate, since we were later in the first quarter, they had shut down to only ONE gate, and apparently many other people were as late as I was...so the line was really long. Then when I got almost to the front, they opened up about 4 other gates. Serenity Now! Into the stadium, and now I just had to make it to the student section. But I wanted to get a little snack for the kids, so I got a giant pretzel and a coke. He then reached to get me a bottle of coke, and I knew Magan would only want a fountain soda, so I said...let me splurge and get the souvenir size fountain soda. So he rang up my overpriced soda, and from the feel in my hand, a rock hard pretzel...then handed me a cup of ice in the souvenir cup with a bottle of soda. Sorry, their fountain machine is out. No problem...I just want to get to my family. And I walked into one of the entry ways to see how close I was and realized I had gotten disoriented and had went the wrong way after getting a snack, so I was just now completely across from the family. Hahaha...they were texting wondering where I was. So, I starting the hike once again around the South endzone, and while traveling up one of the ramps, the rock hard pretzel broke in my hand leaving me with a small piece in my hand, and the remainder on the ground. When I finally arrived at our seat at the beginning of the second quarter, I could only shrug and laugh, sharing with Magan her "fountain" soda.
It was not much of a game, but a fun one to watch some big plays...Alabama beat the UT Chattanooga moccasins 66-10. It was crazy hot and bright sunny on this day. Ruby said that I provided her shade, and Magan looked for any way she could use a hat to block the sun. I think this was the girls first college football game, and I shared with them that my first game was watching Auburn against UT Chattanooga. We learned that our girls were not much into football, so I did take them down to the field to see the cheerleaders and the dance team, hoping to run into Al the elephant, but settling for a picture with Nacho Alabamo.
We left a little early, as the game was pretty much over. And decided to help Sam use up some of his extra meal swipes he would lose if not used. So we all got to enjoy supper "on Sam", and it was really good at the all you can eat buffet at lakeside. What a day! Magan will probably remember that it took me a couple of stops on the way home due to some stomach issues...Davis would probably laugh at me blaming the buffalo wing (yes, singular) I had that was so spicy. And looking at Sam's eyes before we left, we knew he was about to pass out. Magan sent him a text with a picture of the whole family "It's real, we were really here"...to which he replied "Oh yeah! So glad yall could make it, Love You, Good Night...BTW, new record for staying up...32.5 hours"
