The Rhythm of My Story: Bucket List Fulfillment

I haven't written on my blog for too long. There have been so many deaths. I haven't felt much like writing. But Bryan whisked me away yesterday to fulfill a wish on my bucket list and I just have to write about it.

Since I was pregnant with Matthew I have wanted to attend an NFL game, preferably the Bears but any game would do. I didn't grow up in a family that watched football. I had zero interest in football and didn't understand the game. Then I got pregnant with Matt when Bryan and I were serving a yoked parish in Northern Indiana. I never experienced the healthy glow of pregnancy. I could barely keep any food down. I lost so much weight and became almost bedridden.

Bryan took over the duties of both churches and a sick wife. On Sundays he would preach at two churches and attend to church meetings and visit the sick. Then he would come home to an ill wife who had no interest in anything. To fight complete boredom I watched television. Without cable television I only had a few channels from which to choose. On Sundays that meant football. One Sunday Bryan came home and I greeted him with, "You will never believe how many yards Walter Payton rushed today." He said, "Who are you and what have you done with my wife?" A football fan was born.

Ever since that pregnancy I have wanted to attend a NFL game. So Bryan and I attended a night game between the Chargers and the Ravens. If the Ravens won the game they would be the top ranked team in the AFC. The Chargers beat them 34-14. It was a fun game to be cheering for the Chargers.

So in a stadium with 80,999 other people, I learned what real fan loyalty looks like. "Wow!" is all I can say. The young man in the seat beside me started out by saying, "I am just going to apologize up front. I am going to get very intense. Cuss words are going to fly out of my mouth and I have been drinking all day." It was a good warning. I told Bryan that I now know what testosterone smells like: Axe body spray and beer.

A football stadium is filled with evangelical Christians, raving fans, people willing to paint their chests team colors, corporations, the worst food ever made....