Monday's Meatloaf - Scattered Memories

Some Mondays are just like the others. But most Mondays need more than a coffee maker to get you through. Maybe today you should chain chew some donuts as well.

I used to ridicule my mom for keeping every seemingly insignificant piece of my history and cramming it into a scrap book which was in turn shoved into an attic. Her response was always the same: Some day you'll thank me. Now go take the trash out!


So when the folks came for a visit this weekend with a box full of scraps in tow, I was a little underwhelmed. The first night went okay and had relatively few embarrassing moments to explain to the wife. As I packed everything back up and prepared for bed, Mom pointed out that we were about and halfway done.

Yup, I still had one more night of reminiscing to go. Another 35lb tome full of birthday cards, pictures of bad haircuts and report cards with hand written notes like If Bernie continues to blog during mathematics I'll have to hold him inside during recess.

And Saturday night started more than a little tense. Mom turned one page and there was a ticket to the first Clempson game my IPTAY parents took me to. Her finger lingered over a program from a Tiger/Duke game as well, as if trying to goad me into a bark or something. But then...on the next page...a Dawg relic.

Even growing up in a rival home, the fact that we were in Athens in the early 80s made it hard to avoid the junkyard. And so in the middle of my early to mid 80s scrapbook was a somewhat yellow, partial sheet of notebook paper with the autographs of Frank Ros, Nat Hudson and Anthony "Amp" Arnold.

Whoa Whoa Whoa! I said as mom tried to continue on a little too fast. Even among my scattered childhood memories I had discovered a little Glory Glory. Just more proof that one kid's junkyard scrap...is a future man's treasure.

Thanks Mom!


Today's Ingredients

• Starting to get that Away Game Fever which always compounds the usual Football Season Fever. It's way past time to start combating this with Munson's Greatest Calls and endless YouTube vids of Greg Blue and Thomas Davis knocking the schat outta kids. 
• While we're away from home, I told you to start following the UGA at CU 2010 blog recently. Last week Cheri posted that Tailgate tickets were on sale. 
• Back in conference...according to Jeff Schultz, Georgia will play two teams with no place to go but up and only one of the looking down on the villagers.
• Dan Magill tells us John Kasay (the former Dawg guard, not his son the kicker) has retired to the Pennsylvania mountains.
• Bulldawg Illustrated salutes the end of SEC Media Days.
• Hinton looks at the '10 WLOCP and sees the window as slightly open for the Dawgs.
• Streit found a gem of a video with high school footage featuring two SEC gunslingers.
• John Isner lost to Mardy Fish in the Atlanta Tennis Championships final Sunday.
• Could a decision by Damian Swann come in the near future ($$)? 
• Exile puts the SEC Media Days in a nutshell. Guess which one Coach Caldwell is under?
• And while the new Vandy coach was the runaway winner in Hoover, can he win over the Nashvillians?
• Meanwhile KegsNEggs has the first chapter in of the new book The Tide Has Turned.
• It's been 6 months since the mattresses lay in a smoldering heap, and yet KiffyBaby still graces Tennessean headlines more often than Nu'Keese Richardson. Go figure...and color the Senator  shocked.
• Clarkson outlines exactly how Coach Fox has taken it up a notch.
• I couldn't help but notice that Hale had hardly unpacked his typewriter before Philly's hitting coach was fired. And yet it took him two seasons to fire Coach Willie....?? WTH?
• Got a kid leaving for college soon? Check out this website where he/she can get the answers to the questions that you've been preparing them for...for like 18 years.
• Lastly, it's PopQuiz time...is it tacky regifting if you use a movie theater giftcard your wife gave you for your anniversary to take her out on her birthday? Or is that just thoughtful husband regifting? (Happy Birthday Lady!)

Speaking of taking it up a notch, yesterday was a another blast from the past for me. No, I didn't find my old Six Million Dollar Man with the telescopic eye. Guess even Col. Steve Austin was no match for a late 70s yard sale.

Yesterday was a blissful throwback to the year 1996. A year just before marriage and well before kids. A year when it was just me, my dog and my beer. Yeh, the kids were stowed away in dad's backseat early. Shortly after the wife left for the afternoon as well. Granted I'm a lot smarter than I was back then, and the dog we have now isn't nearly as bright as ol' Jake. Still, it took me back.

But there's a reason I left that life behind. By dinner time I was almost hoping to hear an argument over a Zsu Zsu Pet or a all out fight over the remote control. I almost wanted my wife to subtly suggest hit me across the temporal lobe and tell me to TAKE OUT THE TRASH!! (hmmm, wonder where she learned that?). 

Marriage is bliss and kids are a joy. I guess you can reach a point in your life when peace and quiet are both overrated. But it sure is nice to get a taste of it now and then. Here's your fork Reader. Thanks for stopping by for your own taste. Have a great Monday.

Bernie