I have fielded a few emails, texts, and phone calls in the past few days wondering where my new post for speaktherights was.  Well…you are reading it.

I know I have not made mention since Christmas Day and I don’t apologize.  I was giving you a break!

My dear wife, Carrie, and I were sitting around the table with my sister, Lynn, last night.  We were talking about New Year’s traditions including watching the ball drop in Times Square at midnight…these days I wake Carrie up as she is sleeping on the couch to make sure she doesn’t miss it…we are not party animals.  I must say we will have a new perspective as we watch this year, having visited Times Square for the first time this past summer.

We also discussed eating my Granny’s party mix.  There will be none of that this year, sadly.  We spent many a New Year’s Eve in Shreveport at my grandparent’s house when I was a kid.  I can still see my Granny walking over to take me by the hand to do some kind of waltz to the sounds of the Guy Lombardo Orchestra coming out of the television that looked like a large piece of furniture.  Though I rolled my eyes and reluctantly acquiesced to Granny’s dance routine, I would give anything to cut a rug with her again.

We talked about watching football…three TVs going in my parent’s family room as we watch three games at once.  There will be none of that this year either.  Carrie and I are coming back home after the J-1 bowl games.

As I type these words I am sitting in a nice vacationing spot in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  This is the first time Carrie and I have ever been to Hilton Head.  We did not know we would be here until Christmas Eve.  No, it was not a proper Christmas present that given to us.  It was, however, a gift.  I will spare you the boring details.  Just know that we did not expect to be here.  Every now and then the unexpected takes a turn for the best and we do enjoy it.  It is a good accident opposed to a dreadful accident.  It was an accident nonetheless.  So we take the time to be thankful for it.  It was needed.  My sister and her daughter, Katie, just left a few minutes ago to drive back home.  They spent the past four nights with us.  We all had a great time.  Lynn was in the need of seeing a beach again.  She was able to be there when her 9th grade daughter looked upon the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.  I was there too.  I too enjoyed seeing the Ocean again with my dear Carrie.

So…here we are.

Three hours away from watching the Ole Miss Rebels take on the TCU Horned Frogs in the Peach Bowl.  Hotty Toddy and Go Rebels!

By the way, I stand at 17 winners and 7 losers in the speaktherights.com 2014 Bowl picks.

I must say I will miss watching three TVs with my folks as each one of us is imparting on what just happened on a different game than what the other ones were watching at the moment.  It is wonderful gridiron chaos.  Fortunately it only goes on during the first games of the day…the Noon/1 PM kicks before it is whittled down to one game, The Rose Bowl.

I will specifically miss my Dad’s lines of football parlance that follow:

“He’s got the corner!”

“First Man!”

“Up the Gut!”

“They are holding on every play!”

“I hate these damn commercials!”

“Mama, get that telephone!”

“I think I’ll have a little more party mix!”

Precious memories.

There was another precious memory made yesterday.

While I don’t make a habit of endorsing much of anything on here…cos that is not what this site is about, I can tell that years will come and go for the four of us sitting around a restaurant table and we will still be talking about how wonderful our dining experience was yesterday.

My sister, her daughter, Kate, my dear wife, Carrie, and I took a day trip over to Charleston yesterday.  We took in the sites of a most majestic and uniquely Southern place.  We also ate at what I think is the best restaurant in the world.

I am a fortunate man.  I have been to many places and have seen many things.  Along the way, I have stopped to eat…too much on occasion…dissatisfied with the product on others.

Yesterday we sat down at a table in an establishment that has NEVER disappointed.  Hyman’s Seafood on Meeting Street in Charleston, SC is the place.  Eli Hyman is one of the owners.  He came to our table again yesterday like he has in seemingly every other visit we have made there.  He wants you to enjoy your food and your experience.  The guy cares.  He need not worry.  The food is unbelievable. Our service was good too.  It was obvious, however, that we were being waited on by a rookie that had to come back to the table to double check a few things about our order…better to do that than get it wrong…I kind of felt bad for her because she seemed a bit frustrated with herself.  She should have felt better about things after we left.  The meal…the experience of eating at Hyman’s… if it came down to one word that word would be: WOW!

Speaking the New Year’s/Football/Culinary Rights!

Happy New Year to ALL!

Danny Johnson