Football, the Farm, and Family--Otherwise Known as a Big Weekend

As I type this post on a Sunday morning, I look back on the last 48 hours and wonder at how they zoomed by so fast--almost as fast as a thousand folks from Savannah (the Remlers included) zoomed up I-16 to Barnesville Friday afternoon. For that's how the weekend started--with a  mass road trip to watch the Benedictine Cadets take on the Lamar County Trojans for the GHSA AA semifinal football playoffs. The winner of that match would compete for the state title on December 14th at the Georgia Dome, and BC fans across Chatham County trekked across the state to cheer the team on.

We group text messages spoke of our anticipation as Buttimers, Remlers, Kings, and Lowenthals kept track of their progress:

• "The rest stop in Laurens County is clean."
• "We're in Twiggs County."
• "Where can we eat dinner in Barnesville?"
• "We're ordering pizza to take to the stadium."
• "We stopped at Five Guys in Macon."
• "We're already at the game. Stands are filling up!"

The Remlers had a quick bite at Subway before heading over to the athletic complex to find a parking space. And boy, were we glad the Buttimers warned us of the fast-growing crowd on the visitors' side of the field. It's an odd experience driving four hours away from home and then running into everybody you know. We arrived an hour and a half before the game (good idea because still we had to look for seats), and there we found the Buttimers, Thompsons, Bergmans, the Sharpleys, the Stricklands, the Mahoneys, and the Saunders. The Kings and the Lowenthals showed up shortly after that. We sat with the Irelands, and behind us was Deb Antosca, BC's principal. It was a social event rivaling the St. Patrick's Day parade. By the time game time approached Savannahians in maroon and gray were creeping up the bleachers looking for places to sit down.

"I've got one seat next to me," I called to someone in the aisle.
"I need three," he replied, holding up as many fingers.
"Well, I've got one here."
"But I've got me, my wife, and my dad," he persisted.
"Wait, let me check," I said before turning to peer and the six inches of empty metal bench to  my left. "Nope," I replied. "It's still just one seat."
He moved on.

At kickoff, the field was surrounded by spectators from both sides, their only option to watch the game on their feet.

And the noise! I don't know where I've been to miss this nice little trick, but it never occurred to me to put coins in a milk jug to make noise. I can just imagine people all over Chatham and Lamar Counties chugging down their 2% Borden so they could make what has to be the most obnoxious noise maker in football history. Those who really planned ahead showed up with cow bells. When the Cadets had the ball, the visitors' side of the stadium sounded like a stampede of dairy cows on their way to the feed trough. And when the Trojans had the ball, the stands across the field looked like the spectators were shaking white balloons.

Both teams played hard, and they played well. That was a nail biter of a match. In fact, I watched every moment of that game closer than I've watched any Georgia game in Sanford Stadium. But at the end of the game, Lamar County scored a field goal in the last two seconds, and the contest ended with a score of 10-7. That was BC's toughest game yet, and while they could have hung their heads and slunk back to the locker room, they gathered together in front of the crowd and sang the school fight song, which I thought was pretty good sportsmanship.

As the crowd milled out of the stands and back to the parking lot, I listened to commentary about the play. "They should have seen that fake field goal coming." "They gave it up at the end." "They just didn't play to win."

I said nothing, but I couldn't help feeling a little frustrated. It's really easy to sit on our fat butts in the stands, chomping on boiled peanuts and snuggling up in our BC maroon blankets and then say our boys didn't play to win. I might be a voice alone here, but this is the way I see it:

Those boys are only fifteen to seventeen years old. Ever since they got out of school last May, they have been on that field practicing, even in 100 degree heat. And when school started again, they were still on that field after school Monday through Thursday, practicing so that when they got home they could hardly hold up their heads to do their homework. They've played football every Friday night for the past fourteen weeks, accruing a record better than any BC team in history--thirteen games in a row. Looks to me they did play to win. They played their hearts out. They just didn't win Friday night.

And that's fine with me because even though they won't be playing in the dome next Saturday, they can finally take a break and they can spend a few months not risking injury for our entertainment. When those Cadets went home Friday night, I hope they did so knowing that that crowd of about 1500 in the Lamar County Stadium was a testament to how proud everyone is of them. They had a great season.

Family Fun at the Farm

With football season officially over, the Remlers drove down Highway 341 to Hawkinsville, where we spend the night at the camp house.

The next day, the extended Lawson family gathered at Rena and Johnny's camp house for the annual Lawson Christmas reunion. We ate good food, shared photos from the year's events, caught up on what's going on with our families, fished, played, and generally had a good time. I picked up the following news and interesting facts about my relatives yesterday:

• Dawn Taylor is a baby fanatic, and mothers everywhere have to keep close eyes on their little ones when Dawn is around. Fortunately, twins Stella and John Peterson allowed her to get her baby fix.
• Stella and John know how to walk but got few opportunities to do so because of relatives scooping them up and planting kisses on their heads.
• Asher Lawson and Jean Peterson are pretty sharp anglers. Unfortunately, Jean was not quite ready to hang up her pole when it was time to go home.
• Even though Helen Revell is the same age as Davis, it came as a bit of a shock to learn she's already in college.
• In a few months, Lawson Remler will have a cousin with the same first name.
• Bops, Nan, Harriet, and several other relatives share my gross enthusiasm for watching gruesome medical videos.
• Rena and I have been reading the same books and didn't even know it.
• Susan and Sammy have recently returned from a wonderful trip to Italy. 
• Greg McKenzie (the younger) is a sophomore in high school, even though he looks like a senior and presents himself like a college graduate. He did not play football this year, but really enjoyed running cross country.
• Sydney and Gretchen have gotten sewing machines, and I am already planning a sewing camp where we can make some fancy pants!
• Jane Revell brought her friend Matt Oliver to the reunion. He's a resident at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, so maybe we'll get to see more of Jane when she comes to Savannah for a visit.

Every year we have this reunion I leave it resolving to keep up with my relatives more closely in the next calendar year. I did the same thing yesterday, and I think that will be my new year's resolution. We're too fun of a group to only see each other in December.