1. Thanksgiving is not an actual holiday in your household.
If, on the off chance you get to actually see your father on this day, he is usually accompanied by the entire football team in his school's cafeteria.
2. You somehow managed to become a recruiting tool in high school.
3. After a tough loss, you do everything possible to appease the coach.
Cooking his favorite meal, fluffing his pillows, and giving him the remote are just a few ways you try to make him happier.
4. The majority of family photos are taken for the media guide or in team paraphernalia.
5. You take personal offense to people insulting your dad's team.
It is not uncommon to see a football coach's wife or daughter fight with an obnoxious fan bashing the team.
6. When Fall comes around, your dad leaves and a strange man who comes in at odd hours of the night replaces him.
7. If you ever attempted any sort of sport, your dad was no longer your dad, but turned into the whistle-blowing coach all of his players hate.
Thus the reason my T-ball career only lasted about two weeks.
8. Your birth was expertly planned to not be during football season, recruiting season, or camp season.
Along with weddings, vacations, and any other important milestone in your life.
9. The possibility of moving always looms over your head.
Long term plans are not exactly your family's strong suit. Football Coaches give pastors a run for their money on the number of moves.
10. Away games and bowl games often serve as family vacations.
Getting to travel all over with the team is definitely one of the many perks.
11. You find yourself knowing more football terminology than the boys in your classes.
12. As you get older, you realize it takes a special woman and mother to be married to a coach.
She has been the glue that holds your football family together and for that, she can never be thanked enough.
13. When he finally hangs up the whistle for good, it will seem like the end of an era. Until you realize that to some he may no longer be Coach, but to you he will remain what he has always been: Dad.
I will be forever grateful for such an eventful childhood and I would not change one thing!
