First and Ten

Chapter 1

                                                                          Blair

Adrenaline. Excitement. Victory. Defeat. Pain. Success. There's nothing like the rush that comes from...football season! You bite your nails on the edge of your seat as your team trails by three with only seconds to spare, but then, the quarterback throws a Hail Mary deep to his favorite wide receiver who seems to take flight across the goal line for the announcer to yell, "TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!!" causing all fans to immediately rise to their feet and celebrate with all around them.

Here in the South, football is a way of life. We live for packed stadiums at every high school on Friday nights, tailgates teeming with fans on college campuses on Saturdays, and living rooms full of family and friends watching the pros on Sundays. With football season comes the hints and promises of Fall. The crisp breeze, colorful leaves, harvest fruits and vegetables, hayrides, and bonfires fill us with joy and sense of coziness. Everything suddenly is pumpkin spice flavored and trends lend more toward cozy sweaters than sun dresses (unless you put a cozy sweater over one).

Football and Fall bring us together uniting our similarities of cheering on our favorite team and gathering around fire pits and grills. We smile when we see a fellow fan rocking our team's logo on a sweatshirt, a beanie, or a scarf. Bonding occurs between customers who both order the pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin pastry. Fashion influencers converse about fall trends and how to style what they purchased from the Nordstrom Sale that year. Kids gather on playgrounds and in the parks to fling themselves into piles of fallen leaves. It's as if Fall makes us crave togetherness. Maybe it is nature's way of beginning the bonding that leads to all the gathering for Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, etc. What a beautiful sentiment. Togetherness. Family. Love. It is all just so...

"That's garbage. You can do better," my best friend Bri nosily pointed out as she read over my shoulder.

"Wow. Thanks for being supportive. It does suck though. You're right. Ugh! I feel stuck."

"What's up, Blair? You've been sitting in my coffee shop for three days straight trying to type out one blog post. You never get writer's block like this."

"I feel like all my posts are the same. It's all clothes and kids."

"That's why hundreds of thousands of people follow it. You are the fashion envy of mothers with a side of realism in that you don't pretend to be the perfect Pintrest mom."

"I need some excitement to write about. However, my life is most definitely not exciting, but yours is," I smiled as I looked to her hoping she had ideas.

"I bust my ass at a coffee shop that I adore. Why is that exciting?"

"Because you are also married to a professional football player on our city's team. You're a pillar of the community."

"Don't tell Jean Baptiste that. He gets a big head."

"I really do," Bri's handsome husband agreed as he came over to kiss his wife as he always did before heading to football practice in the mornings.

"Still nothing, Blair?"

"Nothing good anyway. Any ideas?"

"You need a love life."

"Absolutely not! I don't have time for that rollercoaster. Bri has been trying to play matchmaker for over a year, and my answer is still a firm no. Me having a boyfriend would also mean losing your best babysitter."

"That's true. Stay single," JB laughed. "Bri, I may be a little late tonight. I'm catching a ride with QB1 so we can strategize on some team bonding between the new guys and us old ones."