My FAVORITE SEASON is here!

You know it's close when people begin to hang their flags out in front of their house. Pretty soon after that the coozies come out, Game Day outfits are bought, and tailgating recipes are traded. All of it can mean only one thing... my FAVORITE SEASON has arrived! It's not Spring, Summer, Winter, or Fall - it's FOOTBALL!!!

 
Today we went out to run some errands, and naturally I wore my Auburn shirt and Tiger Paw earrings. It took less than an hour before an Alabama fan started trash talking me. Now, normally I would cringe, roll my eyes, and try to bite my tongue (to keep myself from making a nasty comment about how he didn't even go to Bama so I don't know why he's trash talking an Auburn ALUMNA... seriously people.... I need Jesus to hold my tongue a lot during football season ;) but today I found myself grinning.

Newton dives in and it's a TOUCHDOWN AUBURN!!!!

Auburn vs Arkansas 2010 - The last time I got to roll Toomer's Corner!

Today, I smiled and bantered back. Why so happy, you ask? Because for 2 FULL football seasons I lived in Michigan... far away from the SEC. It's true I didn't see any Bammers, and there was nothing crimson or white to assault my eyes (my mother was SO jealous of the distance, especially when Bama won the National Championship the first year I was gone), but I also didn't see any Tigers. And while I'm sure we'd all love a vacation from our arch rivals every now and then, it wasn't worth it to be that far away from the Auburn Family.

I couldn't buy Auburn clothes anywhere, and I never saw an orange and blue flag flying. I had no Auburn fans to watch games with - no one to mourn or celebrate with. And our 2nd year there, when AUBURN WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP - I watched it in the living room of a house while a bunch of yankees cheered for Oregon! (Thank God my precious husband wore an Auburn shirt that night and cheered with me! And to the other 2 of you who were on my side that night, I am eternally grateful ;) I was almost 1,000 miles away from the most INTENSE rivalry football has ever seen, and no one understood how much I missed it!

Rusty was an AUBURN fan for me in Michigan - that's true LOVE!

Our National Championship "tailgate" food - complete with the Auburn Creed!

Cory was sweet enough & smart enough to be a TIGER for the night!

Exactly one year ago today, we were packing up our home in Michigan. We missed the first game of the football season while we drove back to Sweet Home Alabama that Saturday. Our new house was chaotic the first month of the season (from renovations + unpacking), and the second month I was horribly sick. Then we left for India and Thailand for 6 weeks, and I missed the rest of the season AND the Iron Bowl for the FIRST time in 27 years!

You probably can't tell, but I wore my AUBURN shirt to move home!

So tonight, as I sit on the couch in my Auburn pajama pants,  I find myself giddy. I am SO happy to be back in the South for this football season... close enough to drive to Auburn football games any weekend I want to! I'm embracing the sea of Auburn shirts, the War Eagles I hear at the grocery store, Target, and even at church on Sunday mornings, and yes, I'm even grinning through the trash talk from Bammers. Because all of that can mean only one thing... I'm HOME again and my FAVORITE season is here!