It wasn't unexpected, but it was still sad. She was 80 years old and in declining health for the past 3-4 years. However, I cry not because I'll never see her again, but as a fellow believer who mourns not seeing her any time soon.
She LOVED college football, especially SEC football. Her first team was Mississippi State, mainly because her little baby boy went there. However, she loved both Alabama schools (because she was President of Keenagers at 1st United Methodist Church in Alabaster, AL for 10 years), and she loved Georgia because her daughter was a Bulldog fan. As a matter of fact, as President of Keenagers, she had fans of all the SEC schools there, and she liked all of them- except for LSU, she couldn't stand LSU. I'm so glad she got to see them lose to State before she went.
She would watch college football from 11:00 A.M. until she got tired out at 10:00 P.M. at night. Every time I went over to her house, she'd always have food and drinks ready for us.
I used to take her to Mississippi State games. She got bearhugged by a HUGE Bulldog fan when State beat Ole Miss in the 1999 Egg bowl. We were at the Birmingham coliseum when we saw Butler beat State in the last second in 2003. We were so depressed we literally didn't even move the next day. We were at home in 2007 when we saw this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz_rrT3lyE4
I never saw a 74 year old woman jump so high.
The last football game I took her to was the 2009 Alabama game. By that time, her legs had started giving out, and my seats were 20 steps up from the walkway. After me and an Alabama fan carried her to her seat, I asked if she wanted something to drink. She replied, "NO WAY!"...she didn't want to have to go pee.
Her all-time favorite football team was the 1979 Meridian Wildcats, because her baby boy played on the team, and they won the State championship. After beating Jackson Callaway on a very muddy Newell Field, I made it a point to bear-hug her in my muddy uniform...and her wearing a fur coat.
She was a military wife. She took care of the house through Dad's two tours of vietnam and a year in Okinawa. She didn't think she was very tough, but she was one of the toughest people I ever knew.
I miss her.
