Gator fans are rejoicing tonight—the Gators just won, and won big, over Charleston University, with the final score of 66-3. It was a blow-out, but Charleston did their best, they’re just not in the same league as the University of Florida. So why is this Jersey girl such a big Gator fan? I’ll tell you, but be warned, it’s a long and winding story.
I moved to Florida in 1994 for a new start, and to get away from NJ’s ugly winters. I was working as an RN then, so there were no snow days. Even when you were off, you were called in, to take the place of other’s who conveniently got sick that night. After nearly skidding into a bus on my way home one icy morning, I ended up next to a travel agency that advertised “cheap trips to Las Vegas”. Why not, I thought? I had been to Las Vegas five times and I liked the dry heat. And they were hurting for nurses- jobs were plentiful and the pay outrageously high.
But fate intervened, and I followed the man I was dating to Florida. We broke up within a year of me being down there, but I was stuck, since I had used all my savings just to move. And the pay for nurses sucked—it’s no wonder they advertise for traveling RNs all the time. I barely made my bills on my salary. But, as fate had it, I met my future husband at the fifth job I had in the two years I was there. I was working in a Medical ICU in a South Florida community hospital when I met Tim, who was a Respiratory Therapist at the hospital. Friendship led to love, and we were married just six months after our first date. The following year, 1998, our son Conor was born and we settled into a happy family.
Unfortunately, they pay Respiratory Therapists poor rates too, and, after having my son, the Lupus I had for four years, spiraled out of control and I was forced to apply for Social Security Disability. In the three years until I was approved, we lived barely above the poverty line. So our entertainment was watching college football. Now, Tim had been a Gators fan for years, and I became one when one of the security guards at work asked me if I was a Gators fan or a Seminoles fan (Florida State University). I picked the Gators, which seemed to be the popular choice.
We moved back up to NJ to seek better paying jobs for my husband and got settled into Southern NJ as my son grew. When he was seven, the quarterback of the University of Florida was Tim Tebow. He was a natural standout from the start. We watched him play for the next three years, and learned a lot about him personally. Tim is a Christian and his parents are missionaries, and instead of Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale, Tim volunteers to build houses in the Phillipines. His “black out” under his eyes is a passage from the scriptures. Phillipians 3:11: Through Christ I can do anything. My son has grown up as a true believer in God and Christ and immediately took to Tim. He became Conor’s hero, and we read all we could on him on the internet, and in magazines, like Sports Illustrated.
Conor’s biggest accomplishment was being in Alabama this summer for Space Camp. ‘Bama and the Gators are rivals, and Conor wore his Gators T-Shirt, swimshorts and took his Gators pool towel proudly to the pool. He took a lot of flak from it. But he found out his counselor was also a Gators fan, so he knew he had someone watching out for him. Hey, the kid was born and spent his first four years in Florida, and he intends to go to the University of Florida when he graduates high school in seven years.
