Anatomy of a Bowl Trip – Prelude

Since brevity is not one of the talents with which God blessed me, what I thought would be ONE post is turning into a series of posts. Ah well, at least it gives me something to say in the next few days as I endeavor to fulfill this Blog 365 thing I've started. (Want to know more about Blog 365? Click the link over in the sidebar. It's like NaBloPoMo times twelve.)

Friday, December 28, 2007
I spent my last day at work for 2007, finished up some reports, tidied up my cubicle, and in a completely uncharacteristic move, left on time. (BTW, this feels so long ago to me it is hard to believe it is less than a week ago. Surely, a month has passed in between then and now.) I picked up N from day camp, stopped at the local fast food joint of choice for dinner (W opted out of this dining extravaganza which was fine by us) and headed home. Once home, we changed into Illini gear and headed out to the basketball game, which the Illini won, by a large margin. We got home late (true fans don’t leave until the final buzzer sounds even if it is a blowout), fell into bed and slept well.

Saturday, December 29, 2007
We all slept in due to late night the night before. We spent most of the day tidying up the house for my parents’ impending visit and doing laundry for the Rose Bowl trip. I took a nap mid-afternoon. I didn’t really intend to take a nap, but I sat down. That was all it took to bring on a nap. I was supposed to meet the bi group in the late afternoon for a get together, but due to my nap (oops) I missed it.

Sunday, December 30, 2007
We skipped church under the excuse that we didn’t know exactly when my parents would arrive. As it turns out we could have made it to church and been back by the time they arrived, but instead we had a leisurely breakfast, read the paper, and relaxed until they arrived late morning. N received presents from his grandparents and we gave them our presents to them. Then we were off to the next Illini basketball game, against Tennessee State. We all assumed this would be another win for the Illini. We assumed wrong. Dad said it had been at least 10 or 15 years since he’d been to an Illini game in person. He enjoyed it, but would have enjoyed it more had they won. The best part of the day for me was when we were walking from the parking lot to the Assembly Hall, and Dad and I chatted about this and that and nothing in particular. Sometimes I really miss my Daddy and don’t get to talk to him nearly enough. It was nice just walking and talking. After the game we went out for dinner before returning home and spending the evening with my folks as they were spending the night with us. We went to bed early because my parents wanted to leave early the next day to get home, and we would be headed to the Rose Bowl. So far so good. . .