I feel like such a broken record. Can't find time to blog. Can't seem to keep my head above water with most things right now. Can't believe that I am staring at the page in the planner that says August at the top of it, or the list along the side of all of the back to school jobs that need to be completed as soon as I turn that page. Can't seem to believe that the kids have grown as much as they have, even in just the past month or so. And how I can't seem, no matter how hard I try or pray or beg, to get it to all just slow down. And so, that is how I find myself a week and some days past this actual event, but still sharing pictures and a few stories from what turned out to be a pretty special day with our favorite PSU football fan.
Last Saturday had been selected as the day that we were going to host a picnic for Jason's co workers. One of his team members had reached a major milestone by passing all of his license exams, and so, we thought it a perfect excuse for a picnic. The weather reports were showing sunshine where we have seen mostly gray clouds in the forecast, and so it appeared that Saturday the 11th was a perfect day for a party.
Until...Jason was invited to bring Joshua and I along to the PSU Lift for Life event that is a fundraiser to raise money for cancer research through an organization run by the athletes themselves. Knowing that this might be a once in a lifetime chance, we decided to try to squeeze both things in to the same day. I wasn't so sure it was even feasible, but Jason said he thought we could manage. And so, try we did.
Joshua brought along his helmet, hoping for a few autographs by the end of the day. He has had this helmet since he was about 4 years old and asked Santa for a PSU helmet. Unfortunately, he was a disappointed boy when we all realized that Santa had brought him a display helmet instead of one that he could actually wear on his head to play football. Silly Santa. But it sure did come in handy on this day!
Be still my heart. This is Josh with a very large, and very nice Anthony Zettel. He is by far my favorite Penn Stater right now...as evidenced by the fact that every time we hear his name announced over the loud speaker, or we see him do something cool, I always say, "He's my favorite". He talked to Josh for quite a while and we had a chance to tell him about meeting his mother on the day of his first collegiate start during the now-famous 4 overtime win over Michigan (without a doubt, my all time, probably never going to be able to top it, favorite PSU game that we've attended). Libby and I were standing outside of the tunnel awaiting the arrival of the blue team buses when this woman we were standing beside was literally not able to control herself or her tears or her general excitement about the whole thing. We ended up talking to her and found out that her son was Anthony Zettel, a virtual unknown at the time, but she was the proudest Mama I had ever seen. And we've been cheering for him ever since. I think he is going to have a great season, and potentially a great career post PSU.
This picture was one of my favorites with Josh and Angelo Mangiro and his friend Carl, whose last name is escaping me at the moment. He came over to Joshua and started talking to him-- a definite people person. He told Josh that he was hoping to be a first or second grade teacher when he graduated. He said he had been practicing his stern teacher face for the classroom, but Josh asked why he wouldn't just tackle them if they weren't listening. Evidently tackling is the method of choice for classroom management at Meadowbrook Christian School if that was his idea of appropriate. Just kidding. I hope. Angelo was really sweet too because he asked Josh who else he wanted to sign his helmet and then went to get them from the part of the field we weren't allowed to go to.
During the event, there was also a Kids' Combine that was going on where kids could do exercises and drills with members of the team. I thought Joshua would get a real kick out of this part, but he preferred to watch the guys do the lifting events instead.
This was the autograph line at the end of the Lift for Life event. He filled his whole helmet and got the autographs of most of the 2015 team, plus Jesse James who graduated and now plays for the Steelers. Jesse was a little hesitant to sign his helmet, but agreed to do it. He was the only person who was reluctant in the least. Just goes to show what the NFL does to people...and why I have no time for it.
After we returned home around 3:30 we had approximately an hour to set everything up for the picnic before people started to arrive. Let's just say we were moving with purpose. But before everyone arrived, we managed to set up Emily and Earl's bounce house (thanks so much, again, guys!) for the kids, set up tables and chairs, and do final food preparations. All in all, we had a wonderful, albeit exhausting day.
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