Yesterday was a big day for the Dismukes household. A very big day. November 20, 2008 will go down in the annals of the Dismukes family history as one of the greatest days in the month of November, 2008 - just ahead of the day that I hung out with the Masons and nearly ate myself into a sugar induced coma and right behind (I predict) Thanksgiving Day itself. No, we weren’t celebrating Universal Children’s Day or even African Industrialization Day (though it was tempting). No sir. November 20 for the Dismukes family was all about college football. The 7-3 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets played host to the #23 Miami Hurricanes in a Thursday night clash at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, GA, and no Dismukes in my family was about to miss out. The 2 older kids got to sit out a day of school for the big event, which instantly put this day among the grand occasions of holidays, teacher work days and the chicken pox. We began the 3 hour trek northward to the ATL at around 10 in the morning. While all members of the family were present, we were not all at 100 percent. Abby was still hanging on to a cold, and I was recovering from a stomach bug that had manifested the day before. Never you worry, however. Nothing keeps a Dismukes from enjoying Georgia Tech football. I simply popped a half dozen or so Immodium and we all drove northward for the big event.
The forecast for the evening called for a steady breeze of arctic cold temperatures, so we stopped along the way to buy some thermal underwear for everyone. As we pulled into the parking lot of Dick’s Sporting Goods, my son made an unwise decision. He used the store’s name to his advantage and made several crude jokes before he could be reached with a backhand. But the fascination for anatomy didn’t end in the parking lot. Once inside, he yanked down the pants of a sporty mannequin to see if he was anatomically correct. Then while waiting in the checkout line, he grabbed a couple of nearby oversized Koosh balls, which he used to pretend that he had ‘boobies’. After a few snickers from nearby onlookers, I administered another backhand.
We left Dick’s and headed up to the Tech campus. We arrived at around 3:00. The plan was to meet up with 2 old college buddies of mine, along with their families, and spend the afternoon tail-gaiting and visiting with old friends. We parked in the parking lot of the world famous Varsity – world’s largest drive-in restaurant – just blocks away from the beautiful downtown campus. We were the first to arrive, so we took our time getting our things together. Yes… I said ‘things’. When I was young and single, going to a ball game required only that I wear clothes. Now that I have kids, going to a game requires diaper bags, coats, snacks, crayons, extra clothes, sippie cups, pacifiers, seat cushions, and a football. We loaded ourselves up like pack mules, locked the car doors, grabbed the kids and began the walk to campus. After several minutes it dawned on me. We had left the most precious item in the car – the tickets. We headed back. Eventually we found them tucked up under the center console, but for a few minutes, I was panicked.
Having arrived on campus so early for a 7:30 game, we were able to claim our ground relatively easy. I threw the football with the kids until our friends arrived. Within an hour and a half, everyone was there, catching up, eating, and enjoying the on campus festivities. As the band assembled on the lawn in front of the Student Center, we all went closer for a listen. With my 2-year old daughter in hand, I made my way closer and waded through a flock of female Tech cheerleaders. I noticed that they didn’t appear manish as they did back when I was in school. No sir, these girls were actually cute. They all gawked at my daughter and smiled at me as we passed by. A thought hit me, “I finally have the attention of some cute cheerleaders and I can’t do a darn thing about it.” The thought passed quickly as the kids played football while we listened to the band. The Ramblin’ Wreck (a historical Georgia Tech icon picture above) drove by and the kids were quickly in hot pursuit. Isaac and Emily both touched it and swore they would never wash their hands again. I was proud of them. At twilight, we looked up in the sky and caught a glimpse of the Space Shuttle Endeavor as it orbited the Earth with 3 Georgia Tech graduates on board. It was a profound moment.
We caught the band once more at the library, then joined them as they marched ‘down the hill’ towards the stadium. The kids were eating it up – every moment of it. As we reached the stadium, we said our good-byes to friends and headed for our seats. It was cold – very cold. But we were warmed from the inside out by something greater – a severe butt-whipping by the Yellow Jackets over Thug U. That and the fact that we were in the midst of another wonderful family trip.
Sometimes being a Dismukes is hard business – like when people mispronounce your name, or when they make jokes about mucous and then laugh as if it were an original thought, or at a family reunion when there’s hardly anybody there (unlike the Smith or Jones family reunions where they must pack out entire football stadiums). But not last night. No sir, last night was a night for the Dismukes – one we’ll be talking about for days.
