Black and Yellow



Last night we watched the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals and win the AFC North division.

Talk about tradition.
The Steelers don't always win, but we always watch.

Bleeding black and gold is as natural in this household as…. I can't even think of something because it is our household. And it always has been.
When you grow up in Pittsburgh like my mom did, you are a Steelers fan in the womb.
Even if you grow up in Phoenix like I did, you are reppin black and yellow the day you arrive.

I haven't watched a Steelers game in a while because I've been at school and we don't have cable.
But I can remember being home, when it was religious, and every game was on, and a jersey or some Steelers item was at the top of my Christmas list, and what was gifted every single year.
Can't go wrong with a Steelers anything.


I mean, really.


What I love so much (other than Channing Tatum in Steelers gear) is our family history. It isn't anything remarkable, but it's special to me.

 My grandpa was a steel mill worker and my grandma was the high school secretary.  He took night shifts and worked at the gas station, and they put three kids through college.
They lived on the same street as my grandma's parents and have siblings all over the city.
And the food…oh, the food is almost as good as the stories told over it.
The thing is, everyone has pride for their city.
And there is just nothing like Pittsburgh.
 Huge bags of parmesan cheese and long sticks of pepperoni and Steelers merch and Primanti brothers at the Strip.
The three rivers and all their stadiums.
The steel mills and the Steel Curtain.
Black and yellow and the Bus.





My grandma and I have been in cahoots about a trip to Pittsburgh with all the cousins this summer.
Grammy has always wanted us to come watch the fireworks over the river on the Fourth of July, and this year might finally be the year.
I sure hope so, because the last time I was in the Burgh I was listening to Gwen Stefani and Run This Town by Rihanna. So it's been a while.
We're talking 2009.




Yeaah.

I just love it so much because I finally get to put smells and faces and feelings and sights to my mom's childhood and the stories I've heard so many times.
Even though I didn't grow up there, I'm still from Pittsburgh. But I don't get there enough.
Family time is my favorite time, with my crazy pistachio nutball uncle and adorable cousins and the card games and, as always, the stories at the dinner table.
I've always thought that one day I'd write a book about it.
And I just might.


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