{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"I Think I Jinxed 'Em","description":"I think by talking too much about my superstitions, I ended up jinxing the team. ------------------------- Well, I think I jinxed them. My sons\u2019 football team fought hard all season and last Friday night they were bested by a very fast and athletic opponent. The boys were gloomy for just a little while. They quickly realized they had overachieved and then they held their heads high. I\u2019m very proud of them. I guess a jinx and a superstition are two different sides of the same coin. Superstitions are proactive and meant to bring hoped-for results. I once carried a tiny single serving bottle of Tabasco in my travel computer bag because I had never died in an airplane crash as long as it was in there. Superstitions are intentional. And it is my considered opinion \u2013 meaning I\u2019ve thought about this for about thirty seconds now - that jinxs bring bad luck and are a realized in hindsight. Such as me talking so much about my superstations for my sons\u2019 football team actually jinxed them. It\u2019s in hindsight that this has now become abundantly clear. Since it\u2019s the Friday after Thanksgiving you\u2019re wondering if the food hall-pass you gave yourself yesterday to eat and drink much more than a responsible human should is still active. Well, it is. That hall pass lasts until midday Sunday. So, yes, go get the mashed potatoes and a half-dozen Sister Shuberts for breakfast. Dinner, too! Carbs don\u2019t count until midday Sunday. Myself, I\u2019ll be cooking a pound of Bill E\u2019s bacon in the oven and putting it on my Sister Shuberts. It is my considered opinion that Bill E\u2019s Bacon is the best in the world. They\u2019re based in Fairhope. Please don\u2019t even consider raising your voice to argue. I won\u2019t have it. It's the Friday morning after Thanksgiving that I carefully go through yesterday\u2019s family conversations and try to remember if I offended anyone. Happily, that rarely happens anymore. The whole Marston family - seventeen of us - will have been under one roof last night. Those tight quarters along with the delirium of a food comma and, perhaps, a glass of wine too many may have caused me to run off at the mouth. Friday mornings I retrace my conversational steps and begin rehearsing my apologies if needed. I\u2019ve learned that one pre-emptive apology at 2pm Thanksgiving Day for everything that I might say later in the day or that night doesn\u2019t count. I wish it did. However, my family seldom goes down those paths anymore. We\u2019re able to keep controversy out of the celebration or, more likely, avoid dangerous topics. And it helps when you really like your family, your in-laws, and your nieces and nephews, and I genuinely do. I don\u2019t want to get sideways with any of them. The same is true with my wife\u2019s family gathering every summer on the Carolina coast. We had sixteen people under one roof for a week last summer and everybody got along. I kinda miss the days when there\u2019d be a misunderstanding, someone would get angry and, if we got lucky, they\u2019d blow up and make a scene.  It offered some wonderful diversions from good cheer and wholesome togetherness and family bonds and all that. Aww, heck. I\u2019ve probably just jinxed myself again. I\u2019m Cam Marston and I\u2019m just trying to Keep It Real. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"