My parents came to Boston on Friday (I'd been counting the days for a month!) and boy oh boy did we do it up. Let me explain that my dad is a sports buff - something that has only dawned on me in recent years. I mean, I knew he LOVED sports - he's a season ticket holder for the Bills and the Sabres and that takes some perseverance as a fan - but doesn't everybody's dad love sports? I'd assumed it was just a requisite thing for fathers. However, this guy can rattle off stats or tell you about a season over 20 years ago like a Twi-hard spouting trivia about sparkle vampires. But it isn't fanaticism. It's just like some kind of hidden talent. Names, numbers, ages, home state/country, draft picks, playoff lineups, last season's all stars, NEXT seasons all stars... It's a little daunting. Maybe I never picked it up because of all them sceery numbers
Anyhow... we'd planned to see a Sox game Friday night and I should've known better when I asked where we'd be sitting. My dad said "Up high." Liar. We were in the front row of section 112 of the loge seating - right behind first base. The best part was when my mom said "Oh look they've got messages up on the big screen" and right then it said "Happy 23rd Birthday Kate, Love Mom and Dad!" I kind of froze up and was like, wait, that's me! My amazing mom set it up and said they gave her no indication of when they'd show the message so it was completely fortuitous that we were all seated (not on a run for beer or fries) and looking at the screen! I will grin whenever I think of that :-D And the best part (besides the "chowdah" guys carrying cups of Legal Chowder through the stands...) was that we won!
Saturday we had brunch at the ever-delicious Zaftig's in Coolidge followed by a trip to the Verizon store for a much anticipated phone update - BLACKBERRY STORM BABY (more to come on that later though I can tell you I love it and hold it and call it George).
We wandered around Harvard later on and my mom and I did a quick trip around the Harvard Art Museum's exhibition "Re-View" - a special display of assorted pieces from the Fogg Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, and Arthur M. Sackler Museum while they renovate and await their new Renzo Piano building. Deja vu much?
Then we headed to the next sporting event - Bruins vs. Hurricanes. Again, Dad faked me out about the tickets and we were sitting..... on the ice. Yes. Front row. My mom and I nearly jumped out of our seats the first time a player was checked into the glass (note to self: hang on to your beer...), and the shock of the frequent impacts didn't really lessen over the course of the game. Loved it. We had the BEST seats for the massive fight that broke out too - if you look at the video on this page, about 40 seconds in they show the pile up. That's us standing up right over the Ford sign Yup, that's me banging on the glass in my blue scarf. I'm such a hooligan.
By the way, I'm 100% aware that these games were once-in-a-lifetime seats and die-hard fans were probably rolling their eyes at me (hey, look, a dancing bear! Ew, that dude just spit). But I had FUN darnit, and anyway fan-dom has to start somewhere. Might as well be the front row.
So after lots (but not enough) of Mommy and Kate time and lovely meals and marveling at my dad's encyclopediac sports knowledge, my parents headed home to Buffalo. Sigh. Wish I could turn 23 every week.
