Posts Tagged: ‘Alabama_Crimson_Tide’

Roll Tide Means I Love You

January 8, 2012 Posted by Brandon Gilbert

     There’s a saying that when you’re born in the state of Alabama, you’re forced to choose between a loyalty to Alabama or Auburn. That’s not really true. The truth of the matter is that if your parents truly love you, they’ll teach you to be an Alabama fan, and if they don’t care about you, they’ll allow you to pull for Auburn. Seriously, it’s one of the things you can call and report people for at the Department of Human Services.

Ok, I’m kidding. I am not one of those people who take it that seriously. I am probably one of the few Bama fans you would meet who pulled for Auburn in the National Championship game last year. I love college football, and I wanted to pass that love on to my son. And of course, I wanted to raise him right, so I wanted to pass on a love for Alabama football. This means from the time he started making sounds I tried to teach him how to say “Roll Tide.”

Fans of all college teams, particularly in the south, teach their children things that reflect their love of their particular school. For instance, Auburn fans teach their kids to say “War Eagle,” despite their nickname being the Tigers. Tennessee fans teach their kids that the color of their uniforms is not a color used to torture suspected terrorists at Gitmo. Mississippi State fans teach their kids that ringing a cowbell is not the most annoying fan tradition since the vuvuzela.

Ryne picked up Roll Tide pretty quickly and it became, along with “Go Cubs,” one of his favorite things to say. Back in May, after his stroke, one of the first things he tried to say when he woke up was “Roll Tide!” I don’t really push him to say it or anything, he just loves to say it.

I truy think the reason he says it all the time is that he thinks it means “I love you.” He doesn’t ever say I love you, but when he’s really happy you did something for him, he’ll say it. If he gets excited to see someone he hasn’t seen in a while, he’ll say it then. If he wants your attention, he’ll say it. If you’re someone new that he has just met and thinks you’re worthy to talk to, he’ll greet you with a hearty “Rooooooll Tieeeede!” And yes, he says it like a northerner for some reason. Of course, he is a quarter Chicagoan.

It’s fun to hear him say it, even if he really doesn’t connect it to the Alabama Crimson Tide. I love him, and I know he loves me too, when He says “Roll Tide.”

Read full article |1 Comment
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories: Milestones

The RynoBoy Diaries #2

November 24, 2009 Posted by Brandon Gilbert

We were on our way to the Warehouse on an undercover assignment. This would be our second meeting with the suspects. Our team consisted of me, the guy who calls himself “Dad,” and the cute one who calls herself “Mommy.” Our mission was to infiltrate disguised as family of the suspects.

We arrived early at the safe-house adjacent to the warehouse. This is where we met our contacts, “Papa” and “Nana.” These are some of my favorite contacts, because they truly care about us. They give us a good place to sleep and rest, and they feed Dad and Mommy. They also give me a lot of hugs, and despite my rough exterior and Super Hero status, I love hugs.

We did a little gameplanning at the safe-house and watched a little Alabama Football, which I also love to do (even in the midst of battle prep, the Crimson Tide remains important).

After the game was over, we headed to the warehouse across from the safe-house. As we walked in, I was ambushed. everyone flocked towards me, shouting “Ryne!” I yelled for my backup, “My identity’s compromised!” But all they did was hand me off to the various people in the house.

I didn’t know what to do. I set off a diaper bomb, but even that didn’t deter them. They just kept coming and coming, but then it hit me…they were all giving me hugs and kisses. I melted. I decided that if it was my time to go, what a way to go. I still was a little scared, after all, because there’s like a bazillion people there, and I live in my secret lair with only two other people.

At the end of the day, I was able to make my escape back to the safe-house with Papa and Nana. It was a rough day, and so I needed a good cry. After that I was able to go to sleep. That warehouse is rough, but this time was easier, maybe next time will be easier and we can finally get to the bottom of why all these people keep getting together at one place. It’s very suspicious.

Epilogue from BrandNewDad:

What had happened was… we went to my parents’ house for an early Thanksgiving get together. All my aunts and uncles and cousins on my Dad’s side all get together at my grandparents’ house, which is beside my parents’ house. While I am an only child, my extended family is gi-normous. I imagine this is a little overwhelming for Ryne, since he is usually around two people at the most, except for church.

This was his second visit to his great-granny’s house, and he did much better this time around. I’m sure that in time, he’ll not be bothered by all of the loud folks all around him. It only took Jamie a few years…

Leave a Comment

Read full article |1 Comment
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories: RynoBoy

Flashback: Telling the Grandparents-to-be.

September 4, 2009 Posted by Brandon Gilbert

We were looking for a good way to tell our parents that they were going to be grandparents. We knew two things: 1) We wanted to tell them in person and 2) We could hardly wait. We wanted to do something special, but we didn’t really know what to do or when to do it. Luckily, a prime occasion came to allow us to go tell them in person without any pretense to let them know why we were coming…

On November 22, 2008, The University of Alabama football team had an off week with no game. This allowed us the perfect opportunity to tell them. Why, you ask? Well, it’s because they were off that my cousin Keri and her husband, Josh decided to get married. Josh is an Alabama Alum and our whole family (aside from a few orange and blue & maroon and white “black sheep”) are big Alabama fans. So this made for the perfect weekend for them to get married without anyone having to miss a football game.

It also meant we would have to travel down to Alabama for the wedding. So, even though we had ulterior motives for being there, we had our perfect excuse to go see the Grandparents-to-be. We decided that on our way to my parents’ house, we would stop along the way and tell Jamie’s parents. Now, we just had to find a cool way to tell them…

Our first stop along the way was in Trinity, AL to tell Jamie’s parents. We devised a way to tell them, and it worked better than we ever would have thought. We did our thing, and Jamie’s Mom says “oh, how cute,” Then the reality sets in of what we’d just given her. She cried a bit (happy tears, of course) and gave us both a big hug and so did her Dad. So, then they realized the responsibility of being told first. We told them that even though we had just given them some of the biggest news they’d ever received, they couldn’t tell a soul. We couldn’t take any chances on any phone calls, facebook messages, text messages, billboards or television commercials of congratulations before we were able to tell my parents. This was also just a drive-by bombing. We drove up, said “hey, we’re gonna have a kid,” and then drove off…so not too much celebrating to be had, but when we left, they were quite happy. On to my parents’ house…

We got to my parents’ house in Cordova, AL and told them the same way we told Jamie’s parents. We had a couple of gift bags, one for them Grandpa-to-be and one for the Grandma-to-be. We had been telling my Mom that Jamie and I wanted to start a project that we could work on together, with the implied meaning being a craft/home type project. That wasn’t actually the case, but anything to throw them off the trail :) So, we hand them both their respective bags and inside they find this:

If you can’t see the image very well, it has “I Heart my Grandpa” (there was one for Grandma as well) and inside it says: Coming July 2009. This was our cleverness at work! My Mom and Dad read it and then the reality of what it said and what it meant set in and my Mom screamed. I was a little scared. Then she hugged both of us, engulfing us in her gigantic grasp, all 5 feet of her. My Dad teared up quite a bit. He hugged us as well. His eyes were so misty, and I could tell the message behind the tears. With his eyes, he was saying “knowing one day that I would have grandchildren is the one thing that got me through all those years when you were a pain in our backside, and now that time is finally at hand.” Yes, it was quite a touching moment. In all seriousness, the reactions we got from them all were priceless, and we were very happy with how we decided to tell them.

Oh, and Keri and Josh got married and went to Hawaii for their honeymoon. They lived happily ever after…or happily  for 10 months…and counting.

Read full article |4 Comments
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories: Flashbacks