The time of year for my Saturday hibernation has arrived once again. That means I am a college football junkie. and unapologetically so. That does not mean I miss the games that are sometimes scheduled on the odd weeknight and every Thursday. Of course this opening weekend there are also Sunday and Monday night games. This season is not really any different from many of the other sports as I am really a sports junkie. So I live my life from baseball opening day until the Red Sox and Braves are eliminated, to football season (college and pro), the NBA season and NCAA basketball and around and around it goes. With golf lasting approximately 11 months of the year, I never have to get off the merry go round. And I watch all golf; PGA, LPGA, Euro PGA, PGA Tour Champions and many of the minor league tours around the world now. I realize I watch too much TV, but I multi-task a lot and reasonably well. Much of the time it is simply white noise in the background and I watch the replays when he announcers are even more excited than their general level of overly-enthused.

I am sure there are people who just rely on the four seasons of the year, but I think we are short changing ourselves if we only recognize four. Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentines, Birthdays, Anniversaries, etc…also take us from event to event of our wonderful lives if we will let them. As someone who constantly battles depression, it is important to me to have things on the calendar that have the potential to raise my interest level besides the number on the day. It was such a huge, wonderful, amazing, happy time when my boys were born, how could I not get excited every year when those two dates come around. They probably have no idea I am as excited and reflective as I am on those days and I should probably make it more apparent, but they are big days to me. The day my bride said I do 34 1/2 years ago was the biggest single blessing God has given me with the exception of the day that I agreed to receive his greatest gift of salvation, so how could that not be a huge deal on my calendar and in my heart. Again, I should make her even more aware of my joy, although I try to make a pretty big deal about it.

So, yesterday was a very fun day for me as the first Saturday of a new college football season and my defending National Champion Clemson Tigers got off to a very pleasing start. You also now know as much about me as it would take to carry on a very long conversation. Yes, I enjoy sports with their wins and losses, but they are not the most important dates on my calendar, nor should they be. Those days that we remember our greatest blessings are, and should be the most memorable days in my year and they are. I need to do a better job of letting the people who are a part of those days knowing how much the day and they mean to me and I need to always remember to be thankful to God for the blessings he has given and continues to give with each day of life.