A quick look at the title and one might think I’m going to write about “faith.” Although there can be a connection between the words “faith” and “faithful,” there also can be a difference. When I say I am faithful today, I won’t be writing about my loyalty to my faith in God. I am, but I am also faithful or steadfast in doing other things.

For instance, I’m faithful to saltine crackers and peanut butter. I could buy Ritz or Townhouse crackers and slather them with Skippy peanut butter. But I don’t. I’m faithful to real saltine crackers and Jif. I use the word “real” to distinguish between the kind I buy and those that are advertised to have no salt. What’s the world coming to when saltine crackers would be made without salt?

I’m faithful to Co-Cola. I know the official name is Coca-Cola, but I’m faithful to the southern pronunciation. I can understand some people like other brands. There are plenty to like, but for me it’s Co-Cola.

I’m faithful to white bread. That’s the kind I buy. I know there are healthier breads, like wheat, rye, and pumpernickel, whatever that is, but, as the Biblical character Joshua said, “As for me and my family, we’ll eat white bread.” I made that up.

I’m faithful to lunch at noon and a nap thereafter. That’s been something I’ve done all my life, even when working in the fields during the summer.

We’d come from the fields as close to noon as possible. Lunch was always light. It might have been a tomato sandwich or a can of Vienna sausages and saltine crackers. We ate fast so that we could rush out to the front porch where the cool breeze was and we’d lay down on the wooden porch floor and take a quick nap before heading back to work.

I’m still faithful to that nap. It’s not a Rip Van Winkle nap. Just twenty or thirty minutes, then “up and at ‘em.”

Here’s another thing to which I’m faithful. Fried fish. I lived on the panhandle of Florida for three years and ate at many seafood restaurants. They baked, broiled, and blackened the fish, but when they asked me “How would you like yours?” I said fried. And as long as I am writing about fried fish, I am faithful to have hushpuppies, French fries, and Cole slaw with a side of Ketchup.

I don’t have to say this, but I will. Anybody who has known me for long will know that I am faithful to the Georgia Bulldogs. It’s easy to be faithful these days, but no other team has challenged my allegiance in over fifty years. That’s win, lose, or draw, although no games end in a draw anymore. Too bad.

I’m faithful to old movies and, when I cannot find anything on television that I want to watch, which is most of the time, I take out an old movie that I have seen a hundred times and watch it again. I may not watch it all the way through, but one thing about an old movie. I know exactly the part I want to watch and I’m faithful to it and guess what? The scene never changes, so it’s faithful to me. Shane always wins the gunfight!

I guess in all of these things to which I am faithful, it might be said, I’m just “sot in my ways.” That’s true, but I’ve lived with myself most all my life and I sort of know what I like. In that way, it’s not so bad being old.