Guest Blogger - September Saturdays by Sweetie

September is one of my favorite times of the year. It wasn’t always. As a youth, September meant back to school and while I was always a good student, summer vacation was far better than school. And then I got married. As you know, we were married on September 10, and that first September of our marriage was basically all honeymoon.

For a number of years to follow, September was great! We were both in school all year and we went to summer quarter as well. Back then we had quarters rather than semesters, so school didn't start until the last week of September. Summer school usually lasted into August. That meant we had most of September with no school. Since we worked on campus during the school year, we also had no jobs. It was summer vacation but with nicer weather and no crowds.

Sadly once real world jobs became the norm, September wonderfulness was left to weekends. Then when those weekends turned into pee wee football, the days became even better. September Saturdays are the best and with my current job, I usually have Fridays off so September Saturdays and Fridays are supposed to be great.. not ordinary great, but Tony the Tiger sort of great!

The problem with that kind of expectations is that sometimes things will happen that just aren't that great.. In fact, this weekend I’ve been feeling really beat down. I have "highly suggested" overtime at work so I’m working almost constantly. No yard work, no drives in the mountains to see the changing leaves, no football...wait! Dedication to work doesn’t go that far. I’m not going to miss Sport's football game. But as bad as I felt yesterday, the Dog Walker had it worse.

In the old days, pee wee football players would run through homemade signs (usually funny cartoons of the opposing mascot). It was a great tradition. But the last few years it’s become the rage to have a professional banner printed on vinyl. The banners are in two pieces that are velcroed together. The banner is usually placed by the end zone on two stakes and then paraded to the middle of the field by the moms.

Yesterday another Bingham team was playing on the same field after us. The dad in charge of the banner got there early and set up his banner near where we were sitting. The Dog Walker decided the bit of shade it provided was just too good to waste, so he plopped down in front of it. It wasn't long before he was stretched out on the ground zoned out to the music coming from his headphones.

At halftime Sport's team headed to a corner behind the sign for their regular pep talk. When halftime was about over, the moms took our banner off its stakes and headed out onto the field. They ran paper streamers across the path so the boys could feel that surge of energy that only comes from being the first one to break through. Only one problem... the boys couldn't see the moms because the other banner was in the way. So they did their cheer and then ran at full force into the WRONG BANNER!

They broke through the banner, but tripped and fell over all 6 feet 4 inches of the sprawling Dog Walker. Most of the team fell into a huge pile of boys. Poor Dog Walker, some of the boys started crying. He got hit pretty hard. And the parents, including his own, what were they doing? Laughing so hard they can hardly stand up. I’m with the Dog Walker... roll back the clock and bring back the butcher paper banners. They are much safer. And while we are at it, can I get all of September off again?


Those were the days.