1 out of 2 dreams fulfilled!

I have lots of hopes and dreams in life.  Two of the larger ones involve the Chicago Bears.  While I'll be the first to admit I didn't really follow NFL football before I started dating Dave, I was never one to do something half-way, so when we got married, I became a full-fledged Bears fan, and have been faithfully following the team ever since.  I even have my own Devin Hester jersey (from before he set records, by the way!).  I'd really love to get a leather jacket like Lovie Smith wears during the fall, but I haven't been able to find a female version of it.

But back to my dreams.  In regards to the Chicago Bears, there are two.  And they are big.

1. Go to a home game in the snow at Soldier Field (it seemed like there were bragging rights associated with attending a snowy game, as opposed to a game in nice weather.  I'm no fair-weather fan!)

2. Meet Devin Hester and Lovie Smith in person.

My first dream came true on Sunday.  We woke up at 3 am, left my cousin's house in Minneapolis, and headed towards Soldier Field.  We hurried, but by the time we dropped off our car, checked into our hotel, added all 17 layers, and took the bus through ridiculous amounts of traffic, we missed kickoff by 5 minutes.  I could have cried, except that I was too excited for the rest of the game.

And, bonus, it SNOWED during the first half of the game.  This was nice for two reasons:  First, I now have bragging rights, and can be labeled a "true" fan since I've sat in Soldier Field cheering the Bears on through snow. Second, it only snowed during the first half, and not much in the second half, which was nice because it was actually kind of miserable.

Here we are freezing.  I wore a thermal long-sleeve shirt, a t-shirt, a fleece-lined sweatshirt, my coat, mittens, hand-warmers, scarf, 2 hoods, a hat, and my Emu boots, drank hot cocoa, and was still cold.

Here is LOVIE!  He is in the middle of the picture, right in front of the guy with cape.  I really wanted to tell him hi, but he was too far away.

Here's the Bear's defense.  Urlacher, Peppers, and Tillman are the three whose numbers you can most easily see, all standing sort of in a row (Tillman -#33, Peppers - #90, and Urlacher, #54).

This one has Cutler in it, as well as both Devin Hester AND Lovie!  Hester is the one towards the top of the group, standing about on the 30-yard line, and Lovie is on the sidelines at the 40-yard line (you can click on the picture to make it bigger).  

And, to top it all off, the Bears WON, 38-34!

Afterwards we ate Chicago-style pizza at Giordano's.  The memory of it still makes my mouth water.

So, one of my dreams came true.  We tried to find a way to meet Lovie and Devin after the game, but no luck.  So, I'm hoping they come for my birthday.  Dave says we can celebrate my birthday in Chicago if Lovie and Devin come.    

I asked Dave if he could get Lovie and Devin to come because they support the NFL's push for Breast Cancer Awareness, and I beat cancer, and he said he wasn't sure how to make that happen. 

So, if anyone out there reading this blog has their cell phone numbers, could you please text them and tell them how much it would mean to me? It would make my year.

Go Bears!