it's that time of the year again...

It's Masters time. All of you Augusta kids will know what I'm talking about when I say that it's always a relief for the masters to be over because that means all of the questions stop. I know that tonight I will be asked about 20 times if: a. I'm going home for the masters b. I have tickets to the tournament c. I can get them tickets.
Yes, I am going home for the masters, I'm from the AUG, this is what we do.
No, I dont have tickets. My family learned long ago that I'm a waste of a pass. I get tired of walking around, golf is slightly boring to me, and I sweat more than I like to.
No, I can't get you tickets. I dont know where people came up with this idea that if you're from Augusta, you just have tournament passes lying around.

Those three sentences will probably account for 75% of my bar talk tonight. Oh well. I guess it's a small price to pay. I do love that I live in the city that is home of the masters. People dont realize that it's not just a week out of a year that Augusta revolves around golf. Because of the masters, the city is golf 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Here are some fun facts about how my growing up was different from yours b/c I live in Augusta:

I, along with about 90 percent of my friends from home, live on a golf course.

In middle school, the most popular kids in the neighborhood were not always the cutest, the coolest, the richest or the funniest. The most popular kids were the ones with the best golf carts. Emily's was red, monogrammed, and had headlights and a sound system. For real.

By the age of 5, my brother was so good at golf (or at least he was a pro on hole 10, the hole we lived on) that he could beat all of our family from out of town. By about 9, he could beat my dad and uncle. I can't remember what age it was that he got his first hole in one, but I know he wasn't much older than 10.

When I wanted to swim in my pool or lay out in the backyard, this meant that I had to be willing to accept the odds that I might get hit in the face with a golf ball.

My mom had a nervous breakdown a few times a year because of new discoveries, like the stucco was dented in a new place or a car was dented in a new place.

Spring Break was always the same week as the masters. It took some serious getting used to when I came to UGA and the break didn't revolve around a golf tournament.

All of us left town during master's week. We had to, as our houses were being rented out by complete strangers. (p.s. one week renting your house out for the masters can pay for about 4 house payments, my dad tells me)

Once a year, I had to make my bedroom look like a hotel room. This is hard when you're an adolescent girl.

Once we stayed at our lake house for spring break and we decided to drive through our neighborhood. No normal cars. Only lincolns and limos. It was weird.

If you didn't have some article of clothing that had the masters logo on it, then you were in the minority.

It's funny now that I am in school and our spring break is a few weeks earlier, b/c we all go home for masters weekend now. It's so much fun, way too crowded, but fun. I get to see all of my old friends. Granted, most of us dont have a place to stay, still, but we find a place. This year I'm probably bunking with Sam and her family. I dont know yet, but I do know that I am excited to pull into town and see all of those signs leading everyone in the direction of the national.