Why you Don't Want to be a First Round Draft Pick in the NFL

Grandmother and her best friend and cousin, Jody, at Grand's 85th birthday

I just got off of the phone with Grandmother and my Aunt Jody and I have laughed so hard that I have tear stains on my face.  Everyone should have a pair like these two in their lives.  First cousins and best friends who are 18 months apart, they have been inseparable since birth. Grandmother has always been the conservative one of the two (on the exterior anyway), while Jody puts it all on the table and holds nothing back- she has no filter and I absolutely love that about her!  She is flashy and wears wild shoes and funky clothes and she always has the best accessories. They talk about anything and everything and  I am often blushing from some of the stories that they tell- there is NO TELLING what topic of conversation might come up when they get together.

Like any two little old ladies who have been best friends since they were born, they fight and bicker like sisters, but they love each other.  Their adventures have taken them all over the world- from plastic surgery to A&R parties in Nashville.  When they were driving home after their first face-lift, they were caught speeding.  When the officer came up to the window to write the ticket, they took off their gigantic movie star sunglasses and told him that they'd been beaten by their husbands (who were in the mob) and that they were on the run. The officer gave them a police escort  all the way out of town.  They almost lose it telling that story.

Jody drove today from Daytona Beach to south Alabama just to take my Grandmother to a doctor's appointment, so that Grandmother wouldn't have to go alone. Their friendship is probably the most loyal and dedicated one that I have ever witnessed in my life.

Their conversations are hysterical.  The more that I hear them carry on, the more that I realize where I get my insanely accurate memory.  Tonight, they were discussing Chester somebody, who sent Grandmother a Valentine in the eighth grade.  One by one, the two of them went through every boy that they dated before they married.  Chester, the Valentine sender, triggered a memory of a guy who had come back from the war with a stiff leg and subsequently walked like Chester from Gunsmoke. On their date, he tried to get fresh with my Grandmother.  Lucky for her, her nosy brother was following them home and jumped out of the bushes, scaring ole stiff legged Chester away for good.

As they carried on and laughed, they talked about their cousins who dated some of the same boys AFTER they'd dated them, and they made it very clear that those boys were their boyfriends first. Jody laughed uncontrollably and said, "Hell, Lenis, do you realize that they're all dead? All of those boys are dead! We're the only ones left. Good thing it's Monday Night Football tonight, because we are officially in the NFL:  No Friends Left."  

I couldn't help but laugh with them as they faced their mortality and the fact that their friends have almost all died.  What I did take away from their conversation with me tonight, as they shared a bottle of wine and some laughs over the speaker phone, is that regardless of your age, you can't become a slave to a number, a label, a stereotype, or anyone else's imposing idea of who you should be at any point in your life. Tomorrow, I am going to rock 42 like I haven't rocked it since my odometer rolled from 41.

Before you become a member of the NFL, go by and see an old friend, schedule an unexpected lunch, call them on the phone and reminisce about old times.  Maybe you can carve out some time to create the memories that will carry you through the NFL draft.  Take care of yourselves, you don't want to make the first round.

Love y'all,

Holly