So I logged into this thread today and there are 6 pages of comments, and rather than wear out the "Thank" button (plus you have to wait a certain amount of time between clicks and I'd be here a day and a half
), I want to thank everyone at once for their support, prayers and kind comments.
It's still not easy around here and it won't be for some time. There's a house to go through and a lot of memories to pack up in boxes. Dad and I were both shutterbugs and I think we have a picture of every Christmas gift ever opened in our house, for about 30 years. It didn't help that Mom left more than one set of instructions on what to do with everything, on top of the verbal instructions she'd give that were different from what was written down.
I'll add that Mom especially thought a lot of everyone here at TideFans -- meaning you, the members -- because your interest means I have a job where I still get to write a lot. I left the newspaper industry almost a decade ago now when it became apparent to me that it was dying. Fortunately I got out voluntarily and I love what I do for my "real job" now, and am doubly fortunate I still have the freedom to work for TideFans as well. Technology astounded my mother (we got her an answering machine only about 10-15 years ago; forget finding an internet hookup in her house), and she was wowed by the fact that people all over the world can log in here and read stories and communicate with one another. I often wished we had helped her become computer-savvy back when I started working here, but at least I've never had to explain to her what a Nigerian prince/bank scam is.
What I'll miss during football season is her stories of going to the games with my dad. Dad got his first season tickets in the J.B. Whitworth era. Mom and Dad were both in attendance at Coach Bryant's first game back -- in Ladd Stadium in Mobile, against LSU, and the bleachers collapsed during the game. I've often wondered how many other survivors of that game are still alive to talk about it. They were also in attendance in '71 when the wishbone debuted, they were at the goal-line stand in '79, and we were all together when George Teague and company shut that Miami mouth. And right until the end, Mom could tell you just about everyone on those rosters, could recall entire possessions and key plays, etc.
I'll close with a story that describes Mom to a "T" when it comes to Alabama football: There's an Alabama-Nebraska game out there (Orange Bowl?) where the Huskers beat UA and Jeff Rutledge threw 5 INTs in the game, which may have been his entire season total. My parents had hooked up with a Nebraska couple at a restaurant earlier in the week and ended up sitting together for the game. As everyone was walking out of the stadium, the Nebraska wife says to my mom, "Oh, that was such a great game, it really doesn't matter who won!"
Mom replied, "Oh, yes it does."