Lucky Number 100

Welcome to my official 100th post. I feel so old now!

Taking a break from the non stop job search (ugh) to tell a special story.

Last night was the packers last preseason game (thank god!!) and the first game on the Kiffin Era at USC. I am exhausted today. I know this is my east coast bias but really its just not right for Hawaii to host week night games. Kick off was at 11:00 pm eastern. At 2:00 AM we hadn't even broken into the fourth quarter. No lie, this week was draining on me, getting the news of my job closing and then Packer Transplants followed by Cheesehead Radio followed by a night of non stop football, it can only be expected that I watched the USC season opener curled up on the couch. (which is actually where I slept last night, so I could fall asleep to the end of the game and not wake SB - I'm such a great girlfriend). I posted this picture on my twitter feed. FoundinIdaho (aka Colleen) commented, "cute bear" and it got me thinking about that bear and how special he is. So here's his story.

Freshman year at SC was beyond exciting. I felt so cool, being far away from home, living it up in LA. So when Christmas rolled around I planned on getting everyone in my family USC gifts. USC discretionary account was my first introduction into the world of credit, and man, I lived it up. All the aunts and uncles got mugs, my Grandmother, who helped raise me got the bear. I know everyone says that they love their Grandma, but I really really did. I moved in with her when I was 13 and we developed a very close and special relationship. She has always been the most stable and loving person in my life. As a teenager, I'm sure I never told her this enough. And in my freshman wisdom I assumed a bear, clearly superior to the coffee mugs everyone else was getting, would suffice to explain my love and appreciation. My Grandmother loved that bear. Every time I came home from college, or when I eventually moved back to Wisco and came over to visit, he was always perched up right on a chair in the living room. When she had to sell her house a lot of things were sold or given away in an attempt to downsize and when she moved into her hospice/assisted living facility, all of her possession were contained in one small room; on the chair next to her bed, was the USC bear. The doctors told us a few days before she passed that the end was near. Numerous visitors came to say good bye, to share last moments, and they sat in the bear's chair. He took up residence at the foot of my Grandmother's bed, facing her. She passed in the middle of the night, peacefully, while she slept. The bear, with her, on her bed the whole time.

The bear now lives with me. As does the chair he used to sit on. Generally he has a place on the tv stand in my room, but he never misses a USC game.