Yesterday, the weather conditions were not ideal for a day outside - especially not a day outside waiting in line with an almost three-year old. But when you're waiting in line to tour the Alabama Crimson Tide football players' locker room, to "play" football in Bryant-Denny Stadium, and to see Big Al (their mascot), weather conditions simply do not matter (at least they don't if you are Jim or Jake). These two will brave anything to get this close to Alabama football! So ideal weather conditions or not, yesterday was the big day (the much-awaited "Stadium Tour" put on by the Big Al Kid's Club), and we went for it.
We arrived 30 minutes prior to the persons in charge opening the gate, and to our surprise, there was only approximately 75-100 people in front of us. You might be thinking, "That's still a LOT of people!" But mind you, when I heard there would be concessions available, I was scared. I just knew we would be one of 500 people trying to see THE locker room and THE elephant. But fortunately, the line was manageable, and we were in it...safe and sure we would see what we had come to see.
As we waited in line, Jake played with his football as did most all of the other kids waiting in line. Watching him play definitely passed the time away for all of us, and before we knew it, the gates opened wide. We made our way inside, checked our names off the list, and went straight to the locker room.
Jake had so much fun (and so did we) looking at all the lockers and who each belonged to, thinking about players from the past, and sitting on their stools. Jake decided the stools were better used as drums. Of course, right? There's always a dual purpose for everything with a toddler.
As we left the locker room, Jim and Jake each took a turn hitting the "W I N" sign.
We then made our way out onto the field to have some fun out there while we waited for Big Al. And as you can see, Jim and Jake had a BLAST playing football together. Their faces were lit up with huges smiles practically the entire time!
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After we all played for quite some time, Big Al made his appearance, and Jake was no less excited than he had been all morning when we told him who we were going to see that day. As we waited in line to give Big Al our hugs and "peanuts" (the pretend ones in Jake's pocket), Jake kept waving and saying "Hello" as he paced in and out of the line so he could get an idea of how close he was to him. He waited so patiently until it was his turn. But the first time around, he just wasn't sure of being in Big Al's arms all by himself. So Jim went with him for Round 1, but we all decided it was worth a Round 2 of meeting Big Al up close. So we waited in line a second time, and sure enough, Round 2 was a complete charm!
After we met Big Al, it was time to say goodbye to the stadium where the Tide rolls in and 90,000+ fans come to watch them play each week. I have had the opportunity several times to be on that football field - the first time actually when I was carrying Jake - and now I can add the locker room to my list. Which brings me back to the question that I posed earlier...will Jake be a future Alabama football player? I can't help but wonder and dream for him since he is still too young to have ambitions of his own. It's a question that I don't know the answer to yet. He may never even want to play football. And that's okay too. But whatever his desires are in life, I pray that he seeks God first because with Him all things are possible. So reach for the stars...and a football...as often as you'd like, Buddy! Daddy and I will be your #1 fans no matter what!
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