Oh, the Super Bowl

Once Upon a Time (back in September or so), my mother called me at work and said "I've figured out something fun to do for Dad for Christmas....what do you think about me taking him to the Super Bowl?"

She thought she'd lost me because I was totally speechless.  He. Would. Love. It., I told her.

Fast forward to Christmas morning.  Elizabeth, Nick and I know he's getting the trip, but he has NO idea.  We are armed with cameras, video cameras, the works.  Dad goes to open the gift.  He totally flips.  But there is an envelope in the box with a note in it....Dad reads it aloud and it says "The whole family is going!"  Screaming.  Jumping around.  Dropping of cameras.  We went totally bananas.  Think of that commercial from this holiday season where, on Christmas morning, the parents tell the kids they are leaving for Disney World that day.  But make the kids a 26-year-old and two 29-year-olds.

Everyone that knew we were going said "Oh man, what an experience that will be!"

You have NO IDEA.

We headed to Texas early to spend a few days in Austin with Nick and Elizabeth at their new house.  We had a blast seeing the town and hanging out at the house and eating.  And eating.  And eating.

Sunday morning we loaded up the Family Truckster for the 3.5 hour drive to Dallas. 

Then, the dam broke...

About an hour outside of town, Mom's cell phone rang.  It was our ticket broker.  The tickets had fallen through.  (We don't think we'll ever know what really happened, but it sure did seem shady...)

So began the most painfully awkward, 3 wide in the backseat hour in the car I have EVER HAD IN MY LIFE.  Mom was so upset.  We were so so upset for her.

We got to our hotel and everyone in the lobby was decked out in their Packers or Steelers gear.  There were football shaped balloons everywhere.  The woman at the counter beamed "Welcome to the Super Bowl!" when we walked up.

Right.

We had been instructed to still take the bus to the stadium as planned to see if anything might change.  So we did.  More awkwardness.  The people on the bus were in full-throttle excitement mode, as well they should have been.  Meanwhile, we all looked like our dogs had just died.

We got to the parking lot and had no idea what to do.  You couldn't get into anything without a ticket.  We wandered around and Mom was crying and we were hugging her and none of us knew what to do. 

Now, there is no doubt that not going to the Super Bowl will not hurt anyone.  There are FAR worse things to have happen to you - we are not denying that.  But when your mother has pulled off the greatest Christmas morning surprise ever after months of sneaky planning and now the whole family is standing there without a clue what to do or where to go, it is hard.  It is really really hard.  We would be fine, of course, but watching Mom's heart gradually break was nothing short of gut wrenching.

Around 4:00, the phone rang.  The broker had found tickets.  We were going be somewhat split up, but he had tickets.

We walked all the way to the Rangers ballpark to meet him.  Then back to Cowboy Stadium.  We were starting to cut it close on time.  We got through security, then through the doors to the stadium, then we bolted in 3 different directions like people on that cheesy Supermarket Sweep game show used to.  Mom and Dad went one way, Elizabeth and I another way, and Nick, the single most adaptable person on Earth, took off in yet another direction to find his seat alone.  We FLEW to our seats.  Elizabeth and I walked into our section as the jumbo(that word doesn't do it justice)tron was showing that in 34 seconds Fox coverage would be live.

Whew.

WHAT A NIGHT.  The game was a great one, the stadium was absolutely insane, halftime was a total party.  It truly was an experience that is unmatched by anything else I've ever done.  We were Steelers fans swimming in a sea of green and yellow and cheese in our section and we could have cared less.

Everyone had a BLAST.

We all met back up after the game for a few family photos and then headed out.  Our bus driver got so lost on the way home that it was unbelievable.  We pulled through the Dallas airport for U-turns TWICE on the way home.  "Thank you for visiting Dallas. (U turn) Welcome to Dallas." "Thank you for visiting Dallas. (U turn) Welcome to Dallas." read the signs during our 'detour'.  I mean of course he got lost, why wouldn't he have after the day we had had?  Eventually Nick fell apart in a giggle fit and had us all cracking up.  Back at the hotel (FINALLY) we ordered pizza at 1 am and shared our respective stories from the game. 

Yes.  The Super Bowl is an experience. :)  A stressful, fun, tear-filled, exciting, curt phone call, dancing in the stands experience.  But, in the end, it all worked out.  We had a complete, total blast.

And, most importantly, THANK YOU to Mom for the best gift ever!