Making Memories: A String of Pearls and Super Bowl I

Today is February 7, 2016.  It’s Game Day. Super Bowl 50, and we’ll  make another string of pearls.

Memories.

We’re in a season of making memories.

And there’s no more important people to make memories with than grandchildren.

How do I know?

I simply go back to Super Bowl I.

I watched it with my grandfather and my dad.

In the Log Room at the Old House in Dry Creek.

On a black and white TV with a screen about the size of a laptop screen.

The Green Bay Packers of the established NFL put a whipping on the upstart AFL champs, the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Packers. Need I say more.

Bart Starr. Vince Lombardi. Jerry Kramer.

 

My grandfather, Lloyd Iles, was too fidgety to watch much of the game.

I remember my grandmother Pearl coming in and out of the room. I doubt if she made nachoes, but am sure she had snacks to eat.  That was her way of showing love.

And didn’t she do it well.

Super Bowl I.

My grandparents.

They were there and so was I.

As I remember it, the kickoff was early in the afternoon.  We had time to see the game and still make Sunday evening church.

That was fifty years ago.

Lots of games since then.

Lots of life.

Today is Super Bowl 50.

I’ll watch it with my grandchildren.

Making a memory.

Together.

There’s a good chance my grandchildren will watch Super Bowl 100.

Hopefully, with their grandchildren.

Maybe they’ll recall watching #50 with me and relate that memory.

My grandchildren’s grandchildren. They’ll be my great-great grandchildren.

Wow.

And that string of pearls (my grandmother Pearl and grandpa Lloyd) will stretch back seven generations.

Seven generations of memories.

PawPaw’s and MaMa’s making memories with grandchildren.

You see, it’s not really about football.

It’s about doing things together.

Being together.

 

Jack, Syd, and Ellen Iles spent the night with DeDe and I.

Making Memories.

I woke them an hour before sunrise.

Binoculars.  Sky Map.  Night Sky Book.

Warm clothes.

 

We went outside for another string of pearls.

Five planets strung across the sky.

Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Mercury.

It’s a rare treat for five planets being visible at one time.

A good reason for making memories.

Will my grandchildren remember this morning of sky viewing in the winter cold?

Maybe so. Maybe not.

But I will.

Making memories.

Stringing them into a necklace of memories.

It’s life.

And it’s good.