Four Things

Today I flew out to visit my folks in Florida. Here are 4 awesome things that happened on the way:

Thing One: Here we go steelers!
By sheer accident, I went to the hosting city of the superbowl today. I had completely missed it was going to be hosted in Dallas this year. I happen to be flying through on a connection and was shocked to see so many Pittsburgh jerseys outside Da'Burgh. I had a dejavu moment. Forgot where I was. But that could also be because I was tired. The day started around 4am and I'm now somewhere in central time zone so, a long day.

Thing Two: Donuts and Coffee
I really like Dallas Fort Worth. Since moving out west it is really a great connector city back east -- so much nicer than Altanta or Chicago. Its about exactly half way between Denver and the Florida Panhandle, so you don't end up with a 3 hour flight followed by a 45 minute flight. (where the flight attendants throw the peanuts at you and buckle back up) It has coffee. For better or worse, it has Dunkin Donuts. I grew up around the corner from the DD, and donuts and comics on a Sunday afternoon pretty much were a regular event in our house before we moved out of the midwest. So it was just great to find fresh donuts (and galvanizing coffee) this morning across from my gate. I came up with a whole plan for world domination while drinking that coffee.

Thing Three: Multilingual
There were a large number of people on my plane speaking Spanish for some reason. It was awesome because they decided I spoke it too and asked me a couple of questions. My brain failed to return any romantic language response in time, (how do you explain "bag elevator" It's odd in English. bolsa de ascensor?) But for awhile there we were all together, experiencing the same flight.

Thing Four: Personal Pilot
As I was getting off the plane from Denver, I happened to glance at the door to the cockpit. It was open as is standard procedure at this time of the flight. Hanging on the back of the door were the two pilots' hats, kind of like this:
On the inside of one of the hats was a professional picture of a family; kid, mom, dad. I thought, "how sweet that this pilot takes a picture of his family along." Then the pilot came out: and it was the mom!

Nov 22: why I like football

I didn't grow up watching football. I can't remember a time when a game was on. If anything, we'd watch the cubby's play during the summer. [ I actually got to sing the national anthem at a game once while in a children's choir. ] But it was never football. Thanksgiving at my aunt's house is the only time I remember it being on. There was the talking room and the football room and the family divided between them.

I grew up, went to a small liberal arts college that I think had a football team but I didn't really follow. I got married and we moved to Pittsburgh, The town that bleeds black and gold. Early in our marriage, watching the game on Sunday was a way to spend time together. I'd knit, he'd watch. Since I was there, I started asking questions about the rules and started to care about the players. This was during the 90's, when the steelers were almost good. The infuriating coaching by cowher. Cordell trying to run it. Again. Or handing it off to the Bus. You could see the potential and then you could see them give it the game away in some spectacular debacle. [Honestly, the Detroit lions this year remind me of that 90's steelers team, that was getting it's talent and training back on it's feet, but still not there yet. ] And then there was cope, cracking wise on the radio. I was hooked.

I feel vindicated that we've gotten a few super bowl rings now, because it was a long road up from where the team was in 1996 when we moved to the three rivers. I still miss Randel El and I will always have a soft spot for Hines Ward is the awesome. I totally should have gotten his jersey.

The secret is that football is better than soaps. They are full of drama, not just the drama of the game, but the little personal dramas of injuries and attitudes. Team rivalries, and of course the competition to the super bowl. I remember going to a game (which was near impossible, btw. People would will their season ticket seats to their children when they passed away) and the steelers lost. It was cold and rainy. But they showed the last 10 minutes of the browns game on the jumbo-tron. And the entire stadium stayed there in the rain and booed the browns until they lost. I always wanted to put that into some kind of motto: "Pittsburgh: Where there is always a football stadium of people booing you." It was one thing we could agree on. Rich, poor, educated, uneducated, young, old, we all knew what where we stood when it came to the steelers.

Now that we're in Denver, I have a hard time carrying about the Broncos. They just aren't the steelers. No one stays to boo KC.