Looks She Proudly Down

I know it has been far too long since I have posted and for that I am sorry. I actually wrote one about how excited I was that Holly was going to be a Jayhawk, but it somehow never was posted. Today, however, I would like to vent.

The other day I noticed that I was just not in a good mood and I could not figure out why. So I go through my normal questions (I know, I am like a child, but sometimes I honestly don't know what's wrong!) Is it the weather? No. Am I hungry? No. Is something changing? (I HATE change). Yes. Sadly as it seemed, I realized that I was so cranky because of this whole Big XII business. My mom has told me for years that I just become too passionate about somethings. One of those is the Jayhawks.

For most things that I just become to caught up, it's my own fault. I want to get something done and don't understand why people are not as involved as I am and so I become extremely frustrated. But the whole Jayhawk obsession, I take no responsibility for. This I blame on who else, but my mom. There is this curse that lands upon most children whose parents attended KU where the children fall in love with the Jayhawks. The more and more people I talk to, the more truth there is to this. We are all given Jayhawk t-shirts to wear before we even have the motor skills to dress ourselves. As much as we try to fight it, it's in our blood. Not that this is entirely a bad thing. I mean, how many people can say their team won a National Championship and an Orange Bowl in one year?? That's pretty incredible. KU is a great school too. You have no idea how glad I am that I chose KU over another school that shall never be named because I firmly believe that I have learned more and had a better experience than the friend I had who did go to that other horrible school. (She even showed up to a football game freshman year wearing a KU t-shirt when we were playing her school- flipping fair-weather fan!!!)

However, I did not realize that not all Jayhawks are quite as passionate about KU as my family. This shocking realization came when I was having "Thanksgiving" dinner (we actually had it on Wednesday instead of Thursday) in France leading me to my little story of the day:

So we all went to Joe Allen's restaurant in Paris to satisfy our Thanksgiving craving and it truly did it's job. Not only was the food excellent but it was nice to share it with a group of people that became your family for 3 months. We gabbed about a variety of things including, unfortunately, how foie gras is made (Thanks Jerry for ruining my appetizer). One of the topics that we spent a bit of time on was how I became the admission's Baby Jay. At one point Nan (one of my professors) asked me if my family liked KU. "Of course! Well, my mom went to KU and if my dad wanted to marry mom he had to convert into a Jayhawk fan." They were surprised to hear that it was my mom since everyone else had said their dads were the big KU fans. "Oh yes, I am pretty much my mom when it comes to being a Jayhawk fan. One year for her Birthday I made a t-shirt that said 'Don't talk to me, the Jayhawks are on.'" This lead to some quizzical faces. "Well, my mom was great about helping us with whatever we need: school projects, getting toys out and other stuff. But we were told again and again not to bother her when she was watching the Jayhawks on T.V." Everyone looked stunned. Like I had been abused as a child or something. "It really was only during games- don't worry she was a great mom!" I started to feel awkward. Then my friend Ashley finally spoke up, "No, no! We don't doubt that! It's just... it all just makes so much more sense now." Everyone nodded their head in agreement. I really never stood a chance- it was in my blood and a Jayhawk fan I would and will always be.