Dear Reader:

I certainly don’t want to bore anyone (reading this blog) by pulling out my family album and introducing you to second cousins twice removed on my Grandmother Seawright’s side….Believe me, I wouldn’t do that to you… mainly because it is unconstitutional… under the heading of “cruel and unusual punishment.” (Remember getting stuck watching your neighbors’ home movies from their latest vacation?)

But yesterday a big God Wink originated from two family pictures on the middle shelf over my kitchen sink….an initial inspection of the photos took me back in time to a special memory, a cherished recollection..

I was still relishing in the happy aftermath of the Clemson win over Florida State (while washing up some breakfast dishes) when I looked up and saw these two framed photos. They dated back to November of 2005.

Curiosity made me stop, dry off my hands, and pick the photos up…I smiled as I looked at the images (while I dusted them off) and then, as an afterthought, I turned the pictures over. A little piece of paper was tucked into one of the frames. I took it out, read the message and smiled even bigger.

It said: November 12, 2005-Tommy’s senior year….family joined him for the Clemson-Florida State game which Clemson won 35-14. (Tommy beat dad Bobby (Bowdens)….Go Clemson!)

I sat down on the sofa holding both photos and let my mind go back a decade to that day in  2005….ten years ago…how fast the years have gone. (All the children were still single in 2005, there were no grandchildren….a productive decade was still looming in the future)

Starting in 2005 I was “officially” retired from teaching and administration in the district… but was still doing some work for the state department. I finally had some time, however, to relax and take life easier for the first time in a long time.

As the 2005 Clemson football season was winding down , it dawned on me that the family had never gone to a Clemson game (together) since Tommy transferred there as a sophomore. In the spring he would graduate and there would be no more opportunities to do this.

Both Mandy and Walsh were out of college and working….which meant family gatherings were getting harder and harder to plan. I said a prayer and called both of them to check their calendars and give me a Saturday that would be free for them to go. November 12 was the only date available for both of them. Hallelujah, it was a home game.

I called Tommy and told him what we would like to do….we scrounged around and got some tickets, just in the nick of time. Walsh was just finishing up a 12 hour shift and I remember he slept crunched up in the back seat of Mandy’s jeep.

Mandy and I were in the front with her driving…we ran into problems with a room that had ‘disappeared’ since our reservations were made…but happily we found something else and then we were off to meet up with Tommy.

It was an amazing game….the buzz floating  around us on the bleachers, was that the senior quarterback, Charlie Whitehurst, had hurt his arm in the prior game and was getting a shot in it just before the game started. We all said a prayer that he could get through the game and our prayers were answered…not only did he get through the game but he threw three TD’s to win it.

 Tigers: 35   Seminoles: 14              

All I remember after the game were the jubilant fans jumping up and down… screaming all around us…we were all caught up in the moment. I think Tommy really appreciated the fact that we had come to the game-just not to support Clemson…but to support him also. It is still one of my fondest memories of his time there.

Fast-forward a decade back to present…After the Clemson-Florida State game finally ended…I sat on the sofa a few minutes checking to see if I still had a pulse or heartbeat. Then the pings started on my Iphone.

The first was Mandy texting her excitement over the win, then my response, then I texted Walsh and Tommy, and then they responded… ending with Tommy calling me to share our similar nervousness about the game prior to  kick-off.

For the first time since that football game ten years ago…with the same opponent…it felt like we were all together again as a family. All screaming and shouting for the same outcome against the same formidable adversary.

New devices, like Iphones and texting, were non-existent in 2005, but it didn’t matter that we weren’t in the same physical place this time…we were in the same emotional place bonded by heritage, sports culture and family memoirs.

Sports provide a compass back home-(Permanently set on N) for parents with grown children (and those children who now have children) through a special connection to recollections of yester-years.

I bet Mary would have loved it if Nazareth was competing in a national football title so Jesus might have been lured back home to the game…finding time to  ‘hang out’ with her. Mary had the same problem all mothers (throughout history) have with staying connected to  grown children who have moved away.

So until tomorrow….here’s to sports events that connect families through good times and bad…providing some of the best-kept memories.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• Prayers welcomed and appreciated for my niece, Carrie Simpson, who is taking a very important test this Saturday as part of  her graduate speech pathology program she is closing in on…It has been a four-year program accomplished after teaching school all day. It takes quite a lot of fortitude, perseverance, and commitment to accomplish an endeavor of this magnitude…but if anyone can pull it off…it is our Carrie. We are so proud!