This will be short.
Famous last words.
Your mama was lucky enough to check one major to-do off of her bucket list this year.
She went to the Rose Bowl.
And not just any Rose Bowl - a Rose Bowl where her alma-mater was favored and the spread was +6 points, in our favor.
I will be honored should you choose to attend University of Oregon - it's an outstanding University. But of course I will support you, no matter your collegiate ambitions.
That said, as I sat in the stands, in what I truly expected to be a self-serving, isolated event, I watched these boys, play after play, win and lose. Regardless of the outcome, I thought to myself: 'What if I was his mother', and how damn proud I would be of any one of those players, regardless of the outcome.
In what seemed to be one amazing moment for me, it made me realize that from this point forward, no matter what, I will always view life through the eyes of a mother. I will always see joy and pain through a child's eyes, and I will watch as someones son or daughter fulfills their dreams, or falls just short of it.
I watched the Rose Bowl with butterflies in my stomach and adrenaline running through my veins. But what pulled at my heartstrings was not who won or lost - it was watching the eyes of those who prevailed and those who fell short.  I will always be someone's mother. I will forever be invested in his achievements. My heart will ache for his losses and my soul will celebrate his achievements.
Who knew that one simple Rose Bowl would open my eyes and my soul.

And also, GO DUCKS!

PS: WE WON, for the first time in 95 years. In the words of Ice Cube: I had to say: Today was a good day.