Gaegrand

Surprise, surprise!

I have not been feeling okay for a while and just did not feel like writing, so I have missed reporting on a lot of things, like ball games, birthdays, and trips.

Mississippi State beat Alabama on Saturday. It was at Tuscaloosa so I watched it on TV. Beth watched it at a sports bar with three Alabama graduate friends. Coach Croom has been saying we are improving. Maybe we are.

Beth has a crush on Coach Croom. She is always talking about how good looking he is, how sexy. I think she is a crowd of one on that. Or maybe two, if we could count Mrs. Croom.

I went on a trip to Georgia, North, and South Carolina. First stop was Atlanta, to see my nephew, Jay Parchman, son of my oldest sister Julia. By the way, Julia doesn't mind if I say that. She always introduces herself that way when she is with one of her siblings. She is proud of being the oldest. Me, I introduce myself as being the youngest sister, which I am not. Janice is the youngest by 11 years.

It is very easy to get to Jay's. You take the first exit after the perimeter interstate on 75. His apartment complex is ideally situated. There is a stop light at the entrance. To get to work, he crosses the street and his office building is to the right. I like that there is a Borders Bookstore to the left. He says he has a two minute commute.

He has a nice apartment, with washer, dryer, and a fireplace.

Saturday morning we left to go to Athens for the Mississippi State-Georgia game. Their stadium holds 92,000 so the town was a mad house. We had no idea where we were going. We stopped and parked at the first opportunity. Then we had to ask where the stadium was. It was a far ways off and we had to take a bus to get there.

We walked around the stadium, ate some hamburgers, went to the bookstore (the athletic director and former coach Dooley was signing books, we declined), and then went to the student center and watched some early games on the TVs.

Opposing fans are so nice to you if they think they are going to give you a thrashing so everyone was very good to Jay and me in our maroon outfits.

We went over to the stadium and our seats were okay, located where all the visiting school's fans are always put, the last section on one side of the stadium.

The game was great. We lost by three points and we were driving with a few seconds left so we had a chance to win. For such a large stadium, it was very quiet for the whole game. At the end there was no loud cheers of DEFENSE.

I was scared about getting out of there. Many Georgia fans had left early but there were still a lot of people to get going and i figured the largest group would be going to Atlanta as we were.

George Rodney used to say that a blind acorn found a hog every once in a while. We managed to do that. As we left we got in a lane that had cones that would not let us change lanes. We worried and was sure we would wind up in Tennessee. We wound around campus and finally were forced onto the highway to Atlanta. Oh, wait. No, change that. Jay and I knew exactly what we were doing all along. (Sure!)

We listened to the Tennessee-Alabama game on the radio and we got to watch the very end of the game back in Atlanta. We watched more games, the Arkansas State-North Texas one and the Clemson-Georgia Tech game.

I blistered at the game. It was overcast and cold when we left Atlanta. It was sunny and cool at the game. I blistered on my face, neck, and hands. Thank goodness for concealer.

Sunday we went to the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield north of Atlanta. Jay did not even know it was there. I was interested because George Rodney's great-grandfather fought there.

On weekends you take a bus to the top of the mountain. I think it would be a good time to take the bus to the top and walk down. Some hardy souls walked up, too.

On Monday I waited until rush hour(s) was over and left for South Carolina.