Know who that is??? Keep reading! I guarantee you will by the end.So last weekend, Scott and I had one of those days that you think is going to be no-so-great and turns out to be one of our most memorable (non-childbearing) days since we were married. Saturday was the Bulldog Dash, which is the fundraising race for the Cross Country team at North Gwinnett. Scott is officially the assistant coach and because of this, we (THE WHOLE FAMILY) drug ourselves out of bed at the ungodly time of 4:15 am to head to the race (Scott had to show up early to help set up). I started out the morning falling in the shower- so hard, that it woke Scott up and he RAN into check on me. I didn't cry, but it took me a bit to get up- only later to find out that I had fallen so hard, not only had I bruised my rear end- I had an imprint of the drain on it too (really, it's not funny- even in the slightest bit).
Anyways, after toughing through showers, breakfast, cramming half awake children into clothes, shoes, and carseats, we made it to the race. Tired and barely able to see- SINCE IT WAS DARK- I made my attempt at being the "good coach's wife" and offering my assistance. Fortunately they needed nothing more than someone to unwrap muffins, so my not-all-together self (did I mention I am NOT a morning person?) didn't seem quite as scattered.
Scott ran the race along with Kevin, a friend of ours from church. It was Scott's best 5K (3.1 miles) time at 19 minutes and 46 seconds. He came in 2nd in his age division and they awarded him a cute, little bulldog trophy- ok, hold up... we all know that bulldogs are UGLY, even if it symbolized his excellence in running and superiority to all but ONE runner in his age group!!! Regardless, he is proud of his trophy and has decided it will look most at home in his classroom...at North Gwinnett...where their mascot is the bulldog (once again, I reiterate- we ARE NOT GEORGIA fans).
Our morning continued as we headed to my mom's house so Scott could clean up and watch the kiddos while I went to show a lady rental homes. I was petrified since this was my first time out as an agent and the homes I had found were not all available anymore. Needless to say, the morning went alright, and I found her a very nice rental home- right next to the highschool. Bad part- it made me no commission. It happened to be a rental that Scott saw when he was running and because it was not listed with an agent and I told the lady I wouldn't have her pay me out of pocket, I made nothing, except, hopefully, a referral or two.
That afternoon, tired, hungry and grumpy, we all headed to dinner at Maggiano's (thanks Peter, Bev, Adrianne, Steven, Katherine and Ron for the gift card). We stopped to get gas and while pumping, Scott told me to look at the pump. I cringed (since that is not a pleasant sight with all the raising prices), but looked anyhow. Amazingly, it said $2.57- somehow, the computers were messed up and we got a whole tank- and I mean he filled it FULL- for a whole dollar less than posted. What a blessing!!!
Anyways, we continued on to dinner. Maggiano's is one of our new favorite restaurants and serves some of the best pasta dishes ever!!! The kids behaved excellently, despite having been up for over 12 hours already, and our meal was both filling and revitalizing.
After dinner, we set out for the MARTA train. We were all decked out in our Colts jerseys and ready for the Colts/Falcons pre-season game at the Georgia Dome. On our way from the car to the train, we ran into some other Colts fans- obvious by their bright blue jerseys!! They weren't sure exactly where to go, so we told them they could follow us and we would help them get on the right trains and what not. We began to talk to them and found out they were from Snellville and that she was a teacher at a local Elementary school. They took fondly to our children (once again, God graced us with behaved children while in public) and eventually asked the all important question- why are we Colts fans? We explained to them that we were Tennessee Vols fans and Peyton Manning played and since then we have just began to grow our respect for Coach Dungy and the team. We reciprocated and asked them why they were fans. They responded by saying their son plays- we kind of looked shocked and said "for the Colts?"- kind of a dumb question in hindsight. They said their son was the center- since this was a preseason game, we thought maybe he was new or a 2nd or 3rd string player. However, we were wrong- their son is JEFF SATURDAY, the starting center- the one who gives the ball to Peyton every game- the team captain- the SUPER BOWL winning, real-life football player!!!!!!! Of course, we played it cool and made no big deal of it.............................until.......................we ran into them again after exiting the MARTA train. They were seated a few sections over from us (the really expensive seats) and they were down near the field watching the warm ups. Jeff's mom came over and said that she would get him to sign something for us if we had something- we did, Scott had his Super Bowl hat and t-shirt. I gave her a business card (how smart am I???) and told her to email me and we would arrange picking it back up.
The game went great. The kids got a bit restless, but it was fun watching Harbin scream at the players. He never seemed to know who he was rooting for, but he was cheering none-the-less. The Colts won the game, which is impressive for a pre-season football game (Manning wasn't even there).
After the game, our friends (the Saturday's- did I mention their son is the starting Center for the Colts??) waved us over. We headed with tired children (remember, we've been up since 4:15am and it's now midnight) to tell them goodbye. They asked us if we wanted to head down to the buses and get Jeff to sign our stuff in person. So, being the responsible parents we are, we drug our half-sleeping children down to the buses and waiting for the players to come out. We shoved our way through crowds of people with Jeff's mom as she explained to him that we were the sweet family that helped them get to the Georgia Dome. He graciously signed Scott's hat and posed for a shot with the kids (you can see they are thrilled)!!!
We then proceeded to head home on the train, and surprisingly we ran back into our friends and they followed us back to the car!!
So, a day that started out not-so-great ended up being a very memorable day of wonderful family events!! The kids can't appreciate it all now, but one day they might. We were blessed with a healthy run, the contentment of finding a home for a family (whether I got paid or not), a break at the gas pump, a wonderful family dinner, and finally an exciting most-memorable football event!!
Well, I think that does it for now. I am as caught up as I can be, and will hopefully post again soon!!! Thanks for hearing my longest post yet!!
The mom.
