Bragging About My Kid Part 8,972.

The first time we toured the University of Montevallo I knew E would go to school there. I describe it as being full of lovely artsy weirdos and it seemed like they would welcome him with open arms. And they did. He has done things at that school I didn’t even know he cared about, like joined a Fraternity, and then became President of that Fraternity. He became super-involved with College Night which is a campus competition (the longest Homecoming type tradition in the state) and this year ran for the Purple Side Leader which would mean – during his Senior year next year – he’d lead his half of the college towards a Purple Victory. (PV!)

College Night and Purple v/s Gold yields all of this weird/hilarious traditions. Like which side of the stairs on one building you can use, and what you do when you see the Montevallo sign coming into town, and you hold the PEACE sign, NOT the Thumbs Up sign because THAT is what the GOLDS do, jeez Mom. You love all things Purple and Cow (the color and the mascot) and you call Freshmen Baby Purples and you take care of them like they were your own children which creates these lineages and you have Purple Weddings where you “marry” someone on the Purple side so you can care for your Baby Purple together and it’s INSANE and WONDERFUL and I’ve loved watching him get into every aspect of it.

So, yeah. Of course he had to run for Purple Leader. His blood has run Purple since his freshman year. We funded his campaign with a huge $200 donation for buttons and stickers. I answered some Photoshop Questions as he designed his graphics and I fawned all over him on Facebook when he launched his campaign page. Look at his photos! (Remember: Purple and Cows, it’s their thing. The story of him and the cows are HILARIOUS. The poor farmer who owned them was so perplexed by the photo session.)

The photos were taken by his friend Cocoa who has also done our family photos, she’s great. She goes to Montevallo too and has an amazing travel photo page and her Senior project is all about Montevallo and it’s AMAZING. I’m so glad she took his campaign photos because she just captured him (AND THE COW!) beautifully.

ANYWAY…

Congratulations to the 2017 College Night Leaders! For Purple Side, Giselle Casadaban & Eliah McCutchen! For Gold Side, Amanda Swift and Blane Freeman! #PV #GV #vallonation

A photo posted by Montevallo (@montevallo) on Mar 23, 2016 at 2:23pm PDT

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HE WON! He will be the Male Purple Leader of College Night next year and I’m so excited because he wanted this SO BAD. He might have called me a tiny bit tipsy afterwards and it was hilarious because I could just feel his joy but also his terror (WAIT. WHAT HAVE I DONE? I AM NEVER GOING TO SLEEP AGAIN!) but also his excitement and I was SO worried he wouldn’t win and I’m SO glad he did because now I don’t have to sell our house As Is Cash Only to fund his emergency therapy needs.

I’m happy he found a home in college. A family. I’m happy he found things to pour his heart into. I’m happy he found people to embrace him. His Facebook wall is FULL of messages of love and congratulations and it’s just so nice to see the world loves him like I do. He’s amazing and that’s pretty damn impressive since most days I’m barely able to make it out of the house without losing my shit.

My Dad would be in such awe of him. He’d say the same thing about E that we used to joke about my brother. “How did HE end up so normal and good with people while the two of us are over here holding down the fort as the Mayors of Awkward Town?”

Proud of this kid. He’s in for a wild ride.