Super Bowl Memories

I think back on the years of Super Bowl memories. I never watched it or showed an interest in anything but the commercials but now the day brings back memories.

• Chaperoning the youth with my brother at a Big Super Bowl Bash Youth function.
• Flying to Indianapolis with my Mom and brother on Super Bowl Sunday to go to a Christian Booksellers Convention, yes the year the Colts made it there. Well, I hope it was the Colts....I don't know my teams. My brother said that he was not interested in the game and we would all go to Steak and Shake. That restaurant was a treat because we did not have one and we loved their chili-mac. He started into my Tostitos. Time started ticking and ticking. Mom and I waited and waited. We finally said that we were hungry and ready to go. He responds with the fact he is not that hungry and wants to watch the Super Bowl. I was peeved with how long we had waited and the fact my Tostitos were half gone. Mom and I left and went to Steak and Shake which was right across the street. We ate happily then received a call....It was my brother and he wanted us to bring him some chili-mac. Oh....MEN!
• One year , our convention was in Nashville ...( Jen...this was before you and Mike were there). We were watching a blizzard report which would affect our travel home. I had bought tickets to the Grand Ole Opry and was dying to go. My Dad had been keeping in touch about the storm and telling us to leave Thursday. I said it was not going to happen that I had tickets the Opry on Friday  night and I was going. I have my Dad's stubbornness sometimes too. SO we stayed. We saw the Opry , we walked to Teddy Bear's shop and had a great time. We left the next morning and made it to the mountains when the weather reached its peak. Out wipers were freezing before wiping. We took the first exit and stayed at a Howard Johnson that had a Subway. Howard Johnson's employee said that it was a good thing we stopped because there was not another exit for 5-10 miles and we were lucky that they had a Subway for dinner. We get up the next morning, Super Bowl Sunday. We head out to right past the exit and traffic is stopped. We hear that 2 tractor trailers had jack knived and it would be hours. So we sat for hours as we received phone calls from my Dad and my grandmother about our or MY stupidity and we were going to freeze to death on the interstate as my grandmother cried and hung up. We finally started moving only to discover the Howard Johnson guy lied and there was another big exit 1.5 miles down the road and if we had gone further the night before we would have avoided the tractor trailer accidents. So off we go and my brother is trucking at this point. He was bound and determined to make it home by Super Bowl time. Well, he succeeded we dropped him off 10 minutes before it started.
• One year , my brother in law won a Super Bowl party from a rock station. We spent it with them at their house. All of us as a family plus friends.
• My Dad was in a medical rehab one year after hip surgery. We had permission to take him out for the Super Bowl. He was so keyed up about being in a rehab and so much noise at my sister's house that he wanted to go back to the facility before halftime where it was quiet. All of us were shocked about that.

I look back at all those memories and what was sometimes frustrating times are now memories with a smile. I miss my Dad and brother dearly but am so thankful for the memories that keep popping up. I was so blessed to have them in my life. I miss them beyond words. No holiday is the same....not even Super Bowl Sunday.


Grief ....you go from daily mourning to daily memories. .You go from the tears of them not being there to make new memories to the slight smile of remembering all the times you spent with them,