Cupcakes, College Football, and Celebrating Clint
We have arrived at my favorite time of year: fall is here, which means football season and the kickoff to lots of reasons to celebrate. September is my husband’s birthday month, and even though he doesn’t spend the entire month celebrating the way I do, we have enjoyed the better part of last week with some festivities, food, and fun. I love the celebrations that don’t include my getting any older.
As is his usual nature, Clint asked for some pretty practical gifts: a new wallet and a nail gun. It wasn’t until after he opened the nail gun that he informed me it was for a home improvement project which I have expressly forbidden, but we will discuss that another time (and find another use for his new power tool that doesn’t involve an addition to our house). Because I refuse to give only responsible birthday presents, I also gifted him a book about mezcal, the spirit similar to tequila that he has taken an interest in, and some tasting glasses and a couple of different bottles to taste and try as well. We used the occasion to change out of our lounge clothes into something more presentable and brush and comb our hair, and went out for a nice dinner to continue the festivities. I highly recommend it, as well as Clint’s preferred style of being back home by 9:00, playing Frisbee with the puppy in our dress clothes in the backyard (yes, we did).
I picked up a few of the cutest cupcakes for his big day. Birthday calories? No such thing.
Clint requested a nice steak dinner Wednesday for his actual birthday. We started with oysters, then filled up on steak for him, crab cakes for myself, and plenty of other deliciousness (which may or may not have included lobster macaroni and cheese).
I hope you get everything you wish for, Clint!
And here is our birthday boy, fast asleep on the couch by 9:45 p.m. I would blame it on his age, but he’s been doing that for at least the last decade.
As luck and the NCAA would have it, the weekend following Clint’s birthday was the Clemson versus Georgia Tech football game, also known as my alma mater against his alma mater. Our house divided. I offered to skip the game, but Clint said he welcomed the chance to be with our friends and tailgate again, as well as to see his Yellow Jackets play some football. I promised him the smack talk would be kept to a minimum and his choice of tailgate snacks and libations in honor of the occasion, and off we went to Clemson after last season’s COVID hiatus. We hadn’t been to a game since 2019, and there had been engagements, weddings, babies, relocations, new houses, new puppies and more to catch up on with some folks we hadn’t seen in quite a while. It was great to be back to our normal college football season routine again!
Here we are at the beginning of a very long game day. Go Tigers! Go Jackets! Go away humidity!
As requested, I set up a birthday Bloody Mary bar with plenty of fixings (our friend Bill lamented the only thing missing was crab legs, ha!). For fairness, I even set out some Georgia Tech napkins, which were largely unused. Go figure.
I couldn’t resist this hot sauce for a Clemson tailgate, though.
Cheers to another 45 years!
In the end, Clemson won, but a good time was had by all.
Saturday was full of humidity, more than one rain shower, and an hour and 52 minute delay of game due to lightning strikes in the area (yes, you read that right). It was a strange day, but we made the most of it. Now, the weekend has come and gone and I suppose the celebrating is over, although we have already moved on to getting our Halloween decor ready and planning and prepping for Clemson homecoming in less than two weeks. It really is the most wonderful time of the year.
Happy Birthday to Clint, one last time this year! Age is just a number; I’m always glad yours is a bigger number than mine. Thanks for keeping me young. Wink.