I just have to tell y'all about this. Today is my dad's 80th birthday (YAY... go, Daddy!) so my 18 year old son and I drove down to G'ville and met my parents and three of my four siblings and their kids (and my sister's grandbaby) for lunch. On the way to the restaurant, I took a quick detour through the campus of the greatest university on the planet.
My son has been to UF many times for football games, basketball games, baseball games and gymnastics meets... but I had an ulterior motive for driving him through UF today. He has been muttering crazy talk lately about how he might want to go to [I can barely type this] F... $... U. <choke, cough, sputter, hurl> His SAT scores the first time around aren't high enough to get into UF, although his GPA is great. He knows he will need to take the SATs again and the ACT, and it seemed like he was setting himself up to "settle" for a college other than the one he has always always always said he wanted to attend. Well... he practically swooned as we drove across campus before lunch... so I decided a longer, more detailed guided tour was in order after lunch. :-) I think it worked. He was as wide-eyed as a little kid on Christmas Day and declared, "Man, I WANT to go here SO BAD!" by the time our hour-long tour was complete. I know it made an impression on him when I parked the car near the College of Business area so we could get out and walked around a bit. I pointed out the buildings where I spent most of my junior, senior and grad school years, and he didn't miss it when my voice caught a little and I got tears in my eyes. I am sure my enthusiasm showed when I told him about a couple of specific incidents that I remember in great detail, pointing out exactly where they occurred, even though I graduated in 1988. I am pretty sure I was able to finally convey to him how important UF is to me and how it isn't just where I went to school. UF is a PART of me! I mean... he has always known that I'm a die-hard, rabid Gator. He knows I will get riled up if anyone is overly critical of my Gators or my school. But... maybe it meant more to him now that he is facing that decision. When we came home, he said, "Mom, don't forget. I need to register to take the ACT and SATs again. I know I'll do better this time, and I really hope I do well enough to get into UF. I know F$U and USF both have beautiful campuses, and I know UNF and UCF are getting bigger and better, but there's just nowhere else like UF, is there?" ::sniffle:: He gets it. He really gets it. Now... I really hope he gets in because - having seen what he'll be missing - he'll be even more disappointed than he would have been if he doesn't. !!! Cee -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
