A House Divided...or is it United?

Yes, we are one of those families. You know, where the husband and wife share different football loyalties? Thankfully, ours isn't quite as severe as some I know. Tracy is an Auburn fan, always has been, always will be. I started out an Auburn fan growing up. I'm really not sure how I arrived at being an Auburn fan....my parents really couldn't care less about football. Anyway, I was an Auburn fan until I was in high school, and then my loyalties somehow changed to FSU. Go Noles! Allow me to name-drop a little....Mickey Andrews, FSU's defensive coordinator, is my cousin. "Wow!" you say? Well, don't get too excited. Actually, Mickey's mother and my grandmother were first cousins. He doesn't know me from Adam! However, I have met him once, and there's a bit of humor in that story.

Granny's youngest brother, J. I., became a second father to me after my daddy died. He was an interesting fellow. He never married, although he and my "Aunt" Mary dated for nearly 50 years. They lived about two blocks from each other and had their standard Friday and Saturday night dates, and would talk on the phone during the week. So sweet! Anyway, Uncle J. I. was one of those people who never met a stranger. He had worked at the local Army base when he was young, then as city clerk, and after he retired from that, became a part-time funeral director. So, he knew everybody in the county, or at least could figure out some connection to them! So, when he passed away, there was a good sized crowd at the visitation. I spotted this man way back in the line, that I knew I knew, but couldn't place him. I thought I had seen him on TV, and decided he must be somebody in law enforcement, since Uncle J. I. knew all those people from working for the city. Finally, before he got close enough to speak to us, I grabbed a good friend of the family and asked who the man was. In a pronounced Southern drawl she replied, "That's Ennis's boy Mickey," like he was (and is) just anybody from the community. DUH! I HAD seen him on TV, just not arresting anybody! Anyway, of course I was incredibly excited, and probably sounded like a blubbering idiot when I talked to him and told him what a big fan I was, but he was very, very nice. So that was my one-time meeting with Mickey Andrews.

Anyway, back to the football....since Auburn and FSU aren't big rivals, it works out pretty well in my house. Tracy & I both pull for both teams. We will be watching the Auburn game tonight, and the FSU game on Monday night. But if those two ever go back to playing each other (as they did back in the '80s, I think), there will probably be a division!

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Since it's a long weekend, I'd love to do a little cooking. I normally hate to cook. I love to bake, but hate to cook, and there is a difference in the two. We're also trying to cut back on eating out, and I have decided to try to use my crock pot more. If any of you have any great, easy crock pot recipes, I'd love to hear about them!

Enjoy the football and the long weekend!