Game Day

When the fall soccer schedule was released in early August, we were excited to find we had one Saturday free of games. We couldn't believe our luck when we learned it happened to be the same weekend Georgia was playing in town.

After a late night last night, we were up at o'dark thirty this morning ready to drive back to the city for some SEC football. We walked through Vandy's campus on our way to the stadium, and I was immediately transported to the Chi Delt House (aka "The Cave) circa 1995 with the smell of beer permeating the air, the random music, and the yards strewn with beer cans. Students were out partying at ten in the morning as if they had never gone to sleep the night before. Keagan asked what was going on, and Wes tried to explain that they were celebrating Game Day. Keagan said, "Shouldn't they be studying instead of fooling around?"

I will remember this comment; it will serve me well in about ten years.

We arrived just in time to sit in the cold rain and watch the warm up drills. The bad weather didn't bother Evan. He was totally in his element - soaking up both of the schools' traditions and the details of the pre-game prep.

Perhaps the final score was not what we had in mind, and only a skeleton of the team we watched in Georgia last year remained on the field today, but we will definitely be back to Vanderbilt to watch another game. It was way too much fun, even in the rain, to not go back. Anchor down? What in the world does that mean? If nothing else, I must go back to try to solve that puzzle. It's a good excuse, anyway.

The Touched Artist

We spent the night at the local art museum and botanic gardens listening to live music and walking around the grounds of an old plantation. We passed the mint plants, and Keagan asked, "Dad, is that what you had to chew on when you were a kid to clean your teeth? You know since there wasn't any toothpaste then?"

The boys weren't too impressed with the cello player or the woodwind trio. Keagan said, "We're in Nashville. Where's the country music?" And just around the corner we found them: a banjo player and a guitarist playing Turkey in the Straw. Keagan clapped to the beat and enjoyed the music as much as the over-fifty crowd that had gathered to hear the next Merle Travis piece. 

And then the sun set and we got to finally see what we had anticipated all afternoon: the outdoor light display. We fought the crowds, the slow walking elderly, and and the non-English speaking tour bus to see the art work in the forms of LED lights. 

 Beautiful. Interesting. Unique.

I was so proud to be able to expose the boys to something beyond splash parks and another game of Family Feud. On our way out of the park, Evan said, "The lights were great and I liked how they changed colors, but I think the artist must be touched because I don't see how any of these lights are supposed to look like sea urchins or lightning bugs."