Earlier this week, my phone rang with a number I didn't recognize. One thing anyone who knows me in real life knows is that I'm terrible (TERRIBLE) at answering my phone; and I rarely answer if I don't know the number. For some strange and unknown reason, I picked up this time - and I'm glad I did, because it was a lovely lady named Andrea from ING telling us that Adam had won the Team U.G.A (unselfish giving award). This means we had 4 tickets and sideline passes for the UGA homecoming game versus Vanderbilt this weekend, and that Adam would be honored out on the field while they talked about our ministry and the work we do in Atlanta.
I originally thought I was also going to have to be out on the field for the award, and also on the jumbotron, which made me feel nauseous with nerves. Once I realized just Adam was going out, I was just mostly excited to share the sideline with all my UGA football playing heroes, particularly a certain Todd Gurley.
The two lucky boys who we brought along tried to play it cool, but it's hard not to get a little excited when you're surrounded by nearly 100k fans. In the words of Ashton: I'm not going to lie, it was intense.
We knew that Adam would be going out on the field to be recognized for the award during the beginning of the second quarter. This means we spent the first quarter ensuring we carefully watched everyone else they recognized for various and sundry different awards to see how they behaved and when/how they waved appropriately etc. The main thing we noticed: everyone besides Adam had apparently realized that they should probably dress up for standing in front of so many people. Adam chose to wear his decidedly paint-splattered jeans, with his standard chaco sandals and flannel. Don't worry, I made him put back the red and brown flannel shirt in favor of the black and red one. I have standards, you know.
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Yes this is Jarvis Jones; no this is not a zoom lens. |
Anyways, I certainly walked far more than a mile to and from the stadium, particularly since we were determined not to pay for parking.
The whole experience was exciting and fun, and slightly surreal. Also, I could not be more grateful to people who celebrate our kiddos and encourage us. Seriously, running this race feels way easier with such a beautiful community of people around us.
Want to see Adam enjoying the spotlight? My friend from college sent us the footage, and if you look closely you can see me and the boys welcoming Adam back to the sidelines there at the end.
I almost forgot, but I leave you with your walking quote of the day (from Wanderlust):
Most of the time walking is merely practical, the unconsidered locomotive means between two sites. To make walking into an investigation, a ritual, a meditation, is a special subset of walking, physiologically like and philosophically unlike the way the mail carrier brings the mail and the office worker reaches the train. Which is to say that the subject of walking is, in some sense, about how we invest universal acts with particular meanings.