Last Tuesday, Glenn texted Steve and asked him if he wanted to go to the AFC Championship on Sunday in Pittsburgh. Just like that. Because that is how Glenn rolls. The game is in Pittsburgh, so that is where he needed to be. And he wanted his big brother with him. Steve told him no and went about his day, but later when he passed me in the hall, he told me about Glenn's text and I told him to go. He smiled, and being the best husband ever, said that I needed to go with him so we laughed and told Glenn to get good seats. (Not that we needed to...)
Saturday, we left Luke with Gma Susan and Gpa Paul in the evening and grabbed a quick dinner after a trip to Toys 'r' Us for a couple of Thomas pieces that we are going to try and ration out to Luke. Got to bed late and up early on Sunday. We were on the road by 6:30 and as we arrived in St. Louis we were in the middle of more snow falling from the sky, but our plane was right on time and an easy flight.
We arrived to an airport full of fans wearing black and gold. I picked up a couple of souvenirs and we jumped in a smoky smelling cab for a ride to our hotel blocks from Heinz Field. It was sunny, cold and lovely as we drove through the hills of Pittsburgh and across the bridges that add lots of character to the place.
Glenn was resting and his friend Roy greeted us at the hotel room. We quickly got our layers of clothing on and headed out to see the Bears game at a nearby sports bar. Fun! Tons of fans, tons of fun, tons of excitement in the air. The Jets fans were really pretty polite but I still didn't understand why they actually got seats at the bar :)
We walked to the game about an hour before kickoff. Glenn offered his condolences to some random Jets fans while we walked and we got comfy in our seats in time for pre-game entertainment (Wiz Khalifa), fireworks and THE GAME!
I can't write much about the game because I wouldn't get it right. It was just an awesome time. The energy in the stadium was amazing. The fans were so excited and good natured, and Steve and Glenn were so happy!
Steelers won! Glenn wasn't celebrating until Ben took the final knee and then it was time to get to our hotel again, eat some pizza and get about 5 hours of sleep before heading back to the airport.
We made it back on Monday for Steve to get to work by lunch. I stayed home b/c Luke had stayed home with Gma Jackie with a little cough. He was a crank and I think a little peeved that we left him for two whole nights. He kept telling me that he didn't know his mommy and that his mommy is Gma Jackie. Luckily he seemed to know I was his mom when I picked him up at school today :)
The whole 30 hours seemed like a bit of a dream, but luckily watching my little boy run around with his yellow and black football that we brought home for him and hearing him laugh when we all sing 'black and yellow' helps me smile at a really fantastic memory!
