:: ten ::

"Follow your heart."  

That sweet saying, popularized by indecisive dreamers everywhere (myself included), doesn't always guarantee bliss, I'm discovering.  Because sometimes your heart is a somewhat overenthusiastic monster truck fan , and Heart likes to coordinate annual excursions to Monster Jam at the Tacoma Dome, involving 85 of his closest friends, 3 slightly reluctant daughters, and 1 brother-in-law who ends up bailing--more on that in a minute. 

(And--that's 90 tickets, my friends. To Monster Jam.  In DoRe' Arnall's mailbox.Wha--?!)

I can't really hold my heart responsible for buying tickets to the Saturday evening show--there's no way Heart could have known that that would be the same day his beloved Seahawks faced the Panthers in the divisional round of the playoffs.  (And who doesn't remember sitting there at the end of Week 7, wondering if they'd even make it to playoffs this year?  Confession: this girl's confidence was slightly shaken.)  And, who could blame my heart's brother-in-law for quietly retreating from the original Saturday plan, hoping Heart wouldn't notice that he had opted instead for a ticket in the uppermost corners of CenturyLink? (Being married has had surprisingly little effect on brother-in-law's game attendance--it's quite impressive, really. :-p)

And so it is, and here I am, solitary, after sending my heart and our three daughters off to Monstertruckland.  Brother and Sister-in-law texted earlier with an invite to come hang with her and the crew there; I had to graciously decline, but only because I didn't really feel like putting pants on today. (C'mon now; you can't expect me to be married to Heart for 15 years and not adopt at least a few of his philosophies....) I'm kidding. I'm wearing the biggest, stretchiest pair of sweats my heart owns; now that feels like bliss.  

Kickoff is in less than an hour, game food is ready, and I made the tremendous effort of putting on my lucky socks, so I'm thinking we have a pretty good chance of winning today. 

Daddy and his girls.  Off they go!

My pre-game pep talk with the brother. 

It seems like he actually thought I was kidding?!?!

Game Changers

all for now...

{Go Hawks!}

*Post-game update: The socks worked.