today we watched the new orleans saints beat the indianapolis colts in the superbowl. just our family...very low key with pizza, cupcakes, a little red wine, lots of snacks and playing thrown in...this photo above was taken in 1998 when the broncos beat the packers in their first superbowl win. i had just started dating manuel a couple years prior and we were living in sacramento...i was waiting tables at piatti (one more football memory is that i was working for a LOT of superbowls...it was my chance to trade shifts and to get something else i needed off) and we put a little money on the game and made over $1000 because the spread was so off...we don't gamble much and i'm not normally a huge football fan...but football has always been synonymous with family for me...growing up my dad was a huge redskins fan. when i was 11 years old i painted a huge "hail to the redskins" sign in maroon and bright yellow poster paint and put it up on our garage in southern california...they beat the dolphins that year in the superbowl (1983) and i remember my dad getting a lot of phone calls and singing "hail to the redskins...hail, victory...hail to the redskins...fight for victory..." every time he answered the phone even if the caller was not calling for that reason...he continued the song with something like "we will fight them we will beat them we will heap big score...fight on...fight on...til you have won! oh, braves of washington...RAH! RAH! RAH!" i can still hear his super excited off-key shouts with the lyrics changing almost every time (he didn't think the exact words were as important as the spirit and volume) and i'm ecstatic to realize that i'm smiling and remembering these things fondly...my dad has been gone for 3.5 years and i have not been dealing with it well...felt overwhelmingly depressed thinking about him, looking at photos, trying to imagine how life would be if he could be here for so many little things...and i'm happy to report that this "football memories" post is also one of realizing i have some resolution with losing my dad...it will never be "ok" but at least i realize i can be happy about fond memories from the past and actually feel positively recalling them instead of the ache of intense loss...i'm getting way off tangent but had to get that off my chest...or share my joy in the realization...so back to my dad and growing up singing that song and cheering for the redskins as a child...turns out they LOST the superbowl to the l.a. raiders (remember, i grew up 1 hour east of l.a.) the following 1984 superbowl so you can only imagine the phone calls we got then...i think the redskins are the only team with a song, though...then they won again in 1988 (against the broncos of all teams) when i was a sophomore in high school...then they won again in 1992 when i was in my second year of college.
...once manuel and i started dating i adopted the broncos as my secondary team. his family is originally from denver so he grew up with the entire family very involved in every broncos game...we have continued this somewhat as you can see in my little photo tribute with sea and story dressed in broncos gear below...i still cheer for the redskins if we happen to be watching them play...and sometimes i cheer for the san diego chargers (we've lived here in san diego for 5 years now)...they've gotten so close to the superbowl but not quite...but mostly i just enjoy the traditions and family together time of "football football" as sea and story refer to it...
sea just over a year old...
story about 6 months old...
i guess i uploaded these out of chronological order...this is sea again...one something...she still loves that little car and zooms around on it or pushes her brother or vice versa...seeing this monkey reminded me that story really loved the commercial with the life sized stuffed monkey (the one with red "lips" on his/her bottom) that was driving around in a car...he also started practicing "phonics" saying "Buh...buh...buh..." and then added his usual "nana" and was saying banana with a pause in between over and over...so proud of himself and for making the connection with the monkey...
sea again about a year old...
story with poppy...
story with daddy...making a cute face he still makes just before breaking in to a huge smile...
oh, here's one...
i LOVE toes...
squeezing up sea and story...
thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me...
Thanks for having me! I love the pictures...and the way your kids can burst into smiles so easily..and how much you guys love them. I love love love it!!
ReplyDeleteThat was too cute about your dad and singing...and how well you remember it!
Blessings-
Amanda
First of all, those pictures are adorable. Also, I think it is wonderful that you have so many good memories of the past and your family. It is good that you can now smile when you think of your father. It sounds to me like he would want you to be happy when you think of him.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, my family was never a football family until I got into highschool. My father and brother never really got into it, but boy did I ever. I guess they were surprised when the most UN-tomboy girl in the family started getting bloodthirsty over football :)
Your kids are adorable! That's an awesome family football memory, thanks for sharing :) My only Superbowl memeory is going to the local sports bar in my 20's to enjoy the raffles and free tshirts they would throw out to the crowd. Superbowl in NJ was always fun...as were my 20's.
ReplyDeleteI have something for you over at my blog!
ReplyDeleteOh! I almost forgot. Finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It was.... interesting. I really don't know how to explain it, at times while reading I thought I really loved it, and what amazing insight, and what a cool way of looking at things. Other times I was just like, oh my god this is making my brain hurt can we just get this over with! I guess my over all impression would be I'm very glad I read it, I liked it, it made me think (sometimes a little TOO much) but I wouldn't read it again!
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