Update: I wrote this post in 2015 and for some reason never published it. Much has changed since I wrote this but decided to go ahead and share it. I remember this weekend well.

This past weekend I drove to South Carolina to visit my family. It was Family Weekend at my son’s university which was the original impetus for my visit. Because my mother has been ill, my sister and nephew ended up flying in from California and we all hung out together. It was great to see everyone, even though my mom is still in the rehab place. I think she was happy to see all of us. She was unhappy that she couldn’t go out to eat with us or go home. She started talking about being incarcerated so I guess she’s motivated to leave.

This visit was when we had the estate discussion that I mentioned in my most recent post. Nothing like being the expert on dealing with death.

My nephew and I drove up to Charlotte on Sunday afternoon to join Nick and his girlfriend and another friend at a sports bar to watch the Charlotte Panthers. We had a good time together. It wasn’t quite the same as going to the school to see what’s going on but we had a good time. The Panthers are undefeated right now so Nick is trying to convince me that I should become a Panthers fan instead of rooting for the Steelers or the Browns.

I’ve really decided to quit paying any attention to the NFL. The Browns lose all the time, the Steelers signed Michael Vick, and really there’s not much happening that I care about. I’ll watch it like I did this weekend. If someone is rooting for a team, I’ll join in.

We did have an interesting discussion about Michael Vick and other NFL players and how he at least served his sentence and “paid his debt to society” whereas a lot of other athletes manage to get out of their crimes.

I remember when Nick was little. He had the best way to cheer for a team. He always rooted for the team who was winning so if that changed in the middle of a game, he changed his team. It was very efficient and was a great way to be sure of being happy with the results. When he got older and realized that people, especially his dad, rooted for particular teams, he changed his ways. But that doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness.

It was fun to see my sister. We don’t get to see each other often enough. She really is much better at talking than I am.

Blue Heron, Catawba River, South Carolina