The Day I Met Bobby Bowden

At a diner in Marianna, Florida, it hit me.“This is my favorite song you play on that jukebox,” says one of the waitresses to another waitress.Highway runInto the midnight sunWheels go round and roundYou’re on my mindMounds of hashbrowns, ham, jalapenos and eggs—stacked three across like the Pyramids of Giza—are hissing on the grill. Above the pit, “Manager’s Specials” dangle from the ceiling on a faux-blackboard sign, reading:Two-egg breakfastHashbrowns$5.75Becky, the waitress/DJ sporting a button that says, “You Deserve Pie!” starts to sing along…Restless heartsSleep alone to-night By then, I silently join in, as I salt my eggs.Sendin’ all my love along the wi-yyahThey say that the road ain’t no place to start a family…It is just one of those moments.I lunge for a napkin, produce a pen, and start to write. I scribble down everything I see. The hashbrowns. The eggs. The nametags.I look up, and one of the waitresses is on to me. She is writing up a ticket (but she’s not really writing up a ticket, you know?)—she’s hawkeyeing me (with raised eyebrow).“Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask. “You’ve got a suspicious look on your face.”“Should I be suspicious?” she replies, joshing me.“Naw. I’m not doing anything,” I say, concealing the pen.By then, the secret is out. I don’t know if there is diner code for “writer,” but several of the waitresses are quickly on to my devious plan. They begin to squawk at me like buzzards going in for the kill, and I’m loving it.Oh girl, you standBy meI’m foreeeevah yoursFaithfullyJourney. What a band! Whenever there is a hallowed moment of my life, I want the song "Faithfully" to be playing as the backdrop.But just for a moment, I’d like to tell you about a journey in my life.As I was sitting at the diner, I thought about all of the adventures I have gone on in my three years of being a magazine publisher, photographer, and writer. The places I have been. The people I have met. That morning, I interviewed former Florida State head football coach Bobby Bowden at his house in Tallahassee (took that picture above), and was driving back to Alabama when I stopped off for a bite to eat.Now I must tell you, I have not always done the right thing and I have not always made decisions for the right reasons. An indelible moment underscoring this thought happened my senior year in college. I was a history major at Mississippi State University and I was trying to decide whether to pursue a Ph.D. in history or go to law school. I decided to go to law school. When a friend of mine asked me THE question I didn’t want to answer, the truth about my intentions was revealed.“Al, why do you want to go to law school?”I thought for a moment before replying, “Money.”There were other reasons. Prestige. My dad really wanted me to. I had a legacy of law in my family. It was a challenge. I wanted to get a good degree.But the real reason, the real reason if you grind it down, was money.I loped through 3 years of law school—listless, drunk, and bloated, mostly. I hated it. I knew that it wasn’t for me. But my dad would not let me drop out.I finished school, but I will be the first to admit that I am ashamed of many things about my law school career. My grades. My drinking habits. I swore that the moment I graduated law school that I would never have anything to do with the legal profession again if I could help it (NOTE: there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a lawyer; I simply knew that it wasn’t a good fit for me).So I naturally, perhaps selfishly, turned to what I thought was going to make me happy. I became a coach. Why did I become a coach? At first, I thought that it was all about the kids. Making an eternal impact in their lives. But in the end, it turned out to be all about me.My coaching career started at a high school about 20 miles north of Birmingham. I was the JV coach, and although I felt that I was entitled to more, retrospectively I was lucky to have the job. Over the years, I slowly moved up the coaching ladder, and while others who graduated law school with me were making partners in big law firms, I was playing patticake patticake with a basketball pipe dream.In 2009, I decided to “retire” from coaching. I had no direction. I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I chose law by default. I set up my own law practice and started to take cases. I didn’t love it.Every day, I would go home around 3:30 and write. Over time, the career of writer began to sunnily emerge from the sepulcher of doubt. I began to realize that this was my calling in life.A few years ago, Rick Warren wrote a book called The Purpose-Driven Life. Why do you suppose that that book had so much commercial success? Perhaps because people are looking for purpose in their life. People are dyyyying to find purpose in their life. We want to know that our life matters, and figure out how our life can matter when it’s all said and done.The answer is simple: Embrace your calling. There is something that you are put on this earth specifically to do. There is something that God has reserved, just for you. ONLY for you. What an amazing thought! “For I know the plans I have for YOU...”Yep. You.You can believe in all of this nihilistic crap, that there is no God, and that life is essentially meaningless, or you can believe that you have a divine appointment with destiny. We are called to do something with this life we are given.There is a great quote by Henry David Thoreau that says, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.” I love that, but I would like to add a quick caveat. I think in life, we have to constantly check the intentions of our dreams. If our dreams are rooted in selfishness, greed, or materialism, they will probably not line up with our calling.Many of us are afraid to embrace our calling because we desire the comfort associated with other alternatives. We earmark the importance of certain jobs based on salary, the amount of prestige, or the audience that gathers round. But we are all equal in the kingdom. From a janitor to a jailor, from a pipefitter to a physician.But if you choose your calling, you are going to enjoy it PLUS your life is going to mean something. And you’ll never have to go to work again.I have not worked a day in the last three years. I absolutely love what I do. I never look at my watch and wonder what time I’m getting off work. I “work” Saturdays and Sundays. The day of the week means nothing to me; it’s just another day to do what I love to do. What I’m called to do.That notion was further validated the moment Bobby Bowden’s wife Ann swung open the door to their home and invited me in for an interview.I love my life. I have embraced my calling. And although I have traveled a rather unconventional route, I found it. I understand what I am supposed to do, and I am living right in the center of it. I am truly a blessed man, entrusted with a career of, I feel, great importance.I’d like to think that my father would be proud. When people ask me what I do for a living, I do not respond (as my father would have wished) that I practice law. I simply smile, and with gratitude say:I am a writer. 78To read the transcript of Al’s interview with Bobby Bowden, please check out the FEB/MAR edition of 78 Magazine, which will be distributed in late January. Want a subscription? Visit www.78mag.com/subscribe/