This I know: First lady of Georgia football Barbara Dooley, 70

Getting old is not for sissies.

I think a lot of people perceive that I’ve had a real easy life. They don’t think I work. They probably don’t think I really do anything. But I’ve worked all my life. I still work. I’ve dealt with lots of bad things, and my latest one was cancer.

Wild, untamed, sassy, outspoken, opinionated. I was everything my mother was not.

I’m a Catholic, and I would say I am a good Catholic. Religion is the basis of my life, bottom line.

I can sit down and watch anybody play football. The only thing I have to do is, I’m so competitive, I have to pick a team. I can’t just watch and not care who wins.

I think we are way over obsessed with skinny. But I also think we are the fattest damn nation in the world. So we can’t be too obsessed with being thin.

Stuart Woods, the author, picked us up in his Bentley in New York once and took us out to dinner. I felt like I was the queen of Sheba. It was pretty impressive. He had a driver. I thought, “Man, I’m the driver in my house. This is pretty awesome.”

The highs are never as high as the lows are low.

I could really do without an answering machine. I hate ’em! It’s just an extra thing you have to deal with every day. I think the thing that I hate the worst is people that leave messages and ramble instead of just getting to the point.

I would not wish the treatment for breast cancer on my worst enemy. The chemotherapy is brutal. Buuuut ... but, but, but! The greatest gift you get from going through that is your hourly appreciation of life.

If we could truly think before we act and say, “Would I want this person doing this to me?” we might not do a lot of things that we do.

The most vivid memory that I have is the end of World War II. I was probably 4 or 5 years old and I remember my relatives coming. We were living with my grandmother, and they all came and we jumped in Jeeps and cars and went all over Birmingham blowing horns. I’ve never forgotten that night. I really didn’t know what the end of the war meant, but I knew everybody was mighty happy.

Life makes us get off the path. We have so many things that take over. All of the bad things in our emotions: jealousy, envy. Even our sexual drives can take over our brains. Look at our politicians and look at our athletes. You just lose sight of who you are and why you’re here. Some people think they’re bigger than life, and guess what? None of us are.

You can be gorgeous, beautiful, handsome, but without that inward confidence and without that ability to project yourself, you’re no different.

I don’t know many men that can say they understand a woman. I think God had a plan. I don’t know what it was when he developed us, but we’re different. I can’t get into Dooley’s brain and he sure can’t get into mine.

I cannot stand cats. I’m a dog person. Cats are sneaky, creepy, crawly things to me.

I met President Clinton. I was certainly not looking forward to it. I didn’t want to meet him because I didn’t think I liked him. But he was so charming. He knocked my socks off with his charm. He is a very personable, warm and fuzzy kind of guy.

Living with love, that’s how you live well.

What is love? Do I need to explain that? In my mind, it’s just being gentle and kind with everybody you meet.

The good news about wrinkles is that your eyesight goes pretty fast, so you don’t see them all.

Self-esteem is something that if you’re not born with it you have to develop to get through life. Self-esteem carries you. You like yourself, you’re comfortable with yourself, and this is something that’s projected to others. You are then successful.

I can remember the times when I would be leaving the stadium when my husband was the football coach and no one knew who I was and they were just giving him hell about some call. I will certainly remember those days.

Monday-morning quarterbacks have all the answers.

I’ve learned that when people say, “You don’t remember me, do you?” to say, “You know what? You’re right, I don’t. Give me a clue.”

One time I lost an emerald-and-diamond bracelet that Vince bought me when he really couldn’t afford it but he knew I wanted it. I was petrified to tell him that I lost it. Finally, I had to break down and confess. You know what he said to me? “Easy come, easy go.” That really broke my heart. I thought, “Oh, nooooo! I didn’t let it go easy!”

Have gratitude for what you’ve been blessed with, not what you’re miserable without.

You ain’t going back to where you were. I’ve said so many times that I never was gorgeous, but I would sure like to go back to those days when I wasn’t a little bit longer.

This story was originally published January 10, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "This I know: First lady of Georgia football Barbara Dooley, 70."