Skip to main content

The Legacy of Michigan

By
*sigh*

Another post about Michigan.  Michigan, as in the University of.   Monotonous I know, but I just can't help myself because I love the stinking school so much.

I spent the better part of my teenage life living in Ann Arbor.  I moved there with my mom when I was 13 because she had taken a job with the university.  I didn't appreciate living so close to such a great school at all.  In fact, Michigan was my "back up" school when I was applying to colleges, and after I married John (and needed to transfer from Mt. Holyoke), it was again my back up.  What a fool I was to reject the school twice!

When I headed to Mt. Holyoke, my Michigan sweatshirt was packed in my suitcase, the same sweatshirt that one of my kids currently has in their possession.  As an adult, it was the only football team I followed.  My kids had Michigan attire lining their closets.

I could hardly believe it when Mark was looking at music schools, and his horn teacher suggested he look at Michigan.  The rest is history.

Mark, after his audition, and in front of the music school.
Notice his subtle use of school colors in what he chose to wear for the day.

Mark, and his horn teacher, Angela--one of my FAVORITE pictures!

For the first time in 20 years, the Michigan basketball team is headed to the NCAA finals tonight.  There aren't bigger fans than our family, and our hopes are BIG for the team to win!

We have seriously worn Michigan apparel every day for the last week (Johannah was amazed to discover that she actually had enough different shirts to wear for a week :-))

Today, with the spring weather, John and I sat outside Panera, decked out in maize and blue, including Michigan flip flops.  And this in State College, home to another Big 10 team (losers....)

With this, and with the timing of the season, I'm taken back to almost the same time last year when John and I headed down to Philadelphia to see Mark row for Michigan.  It definitely made our "Top 10 Coolest Kennedy Kid Moments" list :-)  Can you even believe that Mark was decked out in maize and blue trou, rowing for one of the best schools in the nation?  It seems like a dream now.

The easiest way to identify Michigan while rowing:  the giant maize "M".

Getting the boat in the water.

During the race.  In case you couldn't tell, Mark is the tall, skinny, blindingly-white boy, seventh from the left.

Rowing or basketball, or college football, one thing remains the same:  we are the champions, and the best.  Hail to the Victors!  (And good luck tonight, Michigan!)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SURPRISE!!

By
When the pizza guy came to the door last night, here's what John saw: It took a few seconds for John to process who the pizza delivery man was, but when he did, he was incredibly happy (and couldn't stop saying "heeeeyyyyy....".  It was Jared Moran, John's best friend. And me, I just knelt down, right then and there, and began repenting of all the lies that I have told over the last four months, hiding this most amazing surprise :-)  I told Sarah the other day that I was glad to see the light at the end of the falsehood tunnel, because if I kept this up much longer, I was destined to end up in liars' hell... Jared ran the Air Force marathon with John last year.  It was his first marathon, and from what he told us, his last.  However, he called in June and said he was coming again, but I was supposed to keep it a surprise from John.  I'm not sure what changed his mind, but we sure are glad he did.  John hates runnings marathons alone, and ther...
4 comments
Read more

Trail Run

By
Since Anna's blog is private (and inaccessible to most), I copied her post about her recent trail run.  She wrote about it much more philosophically than I did, and I love it. I'm so grateful that I have a body that allows me to run. Running has proved to work wonders for my stress, and for my physical and mental well-being. I've evolved into a new "Anna" through running and training for races.   This past weekend, I ran my first trail race. Going into it, I had NO idea what to expect. I actually thought it would be a nice path through a wooded tree area. Boy, I was WRONG! The trail included running through rivers, up and along such narrow pathways on the side of mountains, and through legit mud holes. It didn't help that I forgot to wear my Garmin GPS watch. Not only was I clueless to where I was running, I had no idea how far I had run and how much longer I needed go. The race became a total mental feat.   I could hear myself breathing heavily. I cou...
3 comments
Read more

A Quick Trip to Mackinac Island

By
 Allow me a pity party for a paragraph.  As much as John is earning buckets of money for us and for our retirement, his weekend calls have been infringing on our time together.  Like I said, it's a complete pity party, because my logical mind reminds me that I should be happy he's making so much money, but my heart feels rather lonely at times as I reminisce about trips we have taken that we don't have time to take again. I love John.  I don't need him around all the time, but I find that the best quality time with him is when he doesn't have other distractions like work, and call, and hospital credentialing. Anyway, I guess that was two paragraphs, and I don't need to take it any further than that, because I don't want the body of this blog post to be about me and my loneliness. I've been wanting to go to Mackinac Island for two years now (I can hardly even believe that it's been that long since I was there).  With Lake Michigan getting colder and t...
Post a Comment
Read more