BUDDY MARTIN BLOG: Taking A Holiday Hiatus, But Leaving You In Good Hands And With This Message
‘This is going to be the best Christmas ever.’ – says Jane, in her Tiny Tim-like voice.
I’ve never met Jane Linderman, but she is one of my best friends. We call her “Jane of The North” around here because she is the Northernmost Gator as a resident of Kenai, Alaska. She is also a devout Gator, having played in the Florida band. And she adores Steve Spurrier.
With that priority in mind, I’m sure Jane would approve of us introducing Steve Spurrier’s Christmas Message first:
Back when the HBC was in charge, a few years after Jane played in the band. (Linderman family photo)
“All of us Gators appreciate the loyalty and love you have for the University of Florida. Let’s rally behind our coach, players and school. I know it means so much to them. Merry Christmas!” – Steve Spurrier
Although he claims he has very little influence and is “just an ambassador” whose primary job is social interaction, suddenly the HBC has become our Godfather, the most beloved Gator of them all.
Most of us know Jane for her love of the Gators, her grit, loyalty, keen sense of humor and sharp insight. Together, she and husband Manny have endured the earthquakes and long, cold nights of Alaska for 23 years, including one at 44 below zero. Why Alaska? When you know this about Jane, you understand everything about her.
“Why Alaska? I was a widow and there are not many bachelors in Sarasota. (That is the truth!) I had lived in Florida for 40 years and the beauty of Alaska drew me in. Glaciers, volcanos, fishing, rich in minerals, snow skiing and lots of places for boat rides. It was an adventure for me to move 3,000 miles from Florida where I knew one person.”
She married Manny in 1998. Now she drinks in the beauty of Alaska winters, plus a few glasses of hot buttered rum.
We know Jane mostly from the many words of correspondence she has shared over the last decade – some social media quips, some of them strung together in stories – and her remarkable photos from the land of the really, really Frozen Tundra.
Nobody loves the Florida Gators more than Jane of The North. This year she brings us our Christmas Story in GatorBait seen elsewhere on these pages.
It is in Jane’s spirit that I deliver my Christmas message as Miss Joni and I pack our bags and head north – not quite as far as Jane -- for a brief holiday sabbatical with daughter Rebecca, her husband Jeff and my two marvelous granddaughters, Gracie and Charlie. We’re in Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia where my ancestors first settled from England in the 1600s – one of them said to have bought the first piece of land sold by William Penn.
It is in Wyomissing, Pa. I’ll be watching the Gasparilla Bowl, but coverage of the game is in the capable hands of Franz (Iron Duke) Beard and photographer whiz Chris Spears. Plus columnist Carlton Reese will likely chime in from home base. I might even fire up the computer from afar and offer my thoughts.
I bought a couple of new suitcases for this excursion (orange) and will need some retraining to get acclimated -- safety and masking being a priority. By the time you’re reading this, I will have been long gone and either there, or not.
I cannot end this without a couple of thoughts about compassion, appreciation, gratitude and hope.
First off my heart goes to those less fortunate at Christmas who suffer either in near-poverty conditions or poor health. This brutal cycle of Covid has robbed so many of their joy, or even of their existence. That tops everything.
This holiday season is a good time forgiveness, so I’m thinking about people I have crossed or perhaps not shared my proper gratitude in hopes of doing better.
I am one of the luckiest people in the world to work with a remarkable group of co-workers and friends at GatorBait – Franz Beard, Chad Ritch, Carlton Reese, Chris Spears. And so many loyal followers, including Loren Meadows, Dan Bond, Nat Blaylock, Lin Tindall, Sissy Long, Mac Steen and many others. And people like Jeffrey Meldon, Joe Sorrentino & Mary Brantley, Tom Ingram, Randy Briggs and others who have supported The Buddy Martin Show. It is through their compassion, vision and generosity that Buddy Martin Media has survived the last 20 months. And we’ve been so blessed by the commitment of our GatorBait subscribers who just won’t let us quit.
Meanwhile, this is a most difficult time for many coaches and their families. I think of Dan and Megan Mullen, wherever they may be headed. For Urban and Shelley Meyer, as they sort out their future.
And of course I wish the very best for new coach Billy Napier, his family and his “Army,” that legion of people who constitute his coaching and support staff. They may be about to become the most recognized pseudo-military group in Florida since “Arnie’s Army.” We need a tee-shirt. Billy’s Batallion?
Meanwhile, over the holidays, be sure to reach out to the person you love and give them hugs and kisses like no other Christmas. The other day I read a Facebook post by a young woman whose bittersweet lament mourned the death of her father. She held his hand in the final minutes. “He gave me my first kiss,” she wrote tenderly. “And I gave him his last.”
To all your families from our family: God bless you, and Merry Christmas.
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