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| Perhaps the “bunny ears” by someone above me are due to the fact that there is a Broncos shirt in the midst of Cowboy territory. |
After living here in the DFW area for 8
years, we finally ventured over to “Jerry's World” (a.k.a. AT&T
Stadium, a.k.a., Cowboys' Stadium) for a football game. Jerry Jones
(owner of the Cowboys) wants way too much for tickets to attend an
event in his Texas Mecca, so we have held off on gracing our presence
in the Taj Mahal of North Texas. Well, we found our opportunity and
pounced on it. The Denver Broncos were coming to the Lone Star State
for a preseason game at the end of August. Tickets in the nosebleed
section of the Great Structure were a paltry $12. Game on! We
rushed through an early dinner (“come on kids, this is no time for
manners, just eat!”) to leave plenty of time to arrive for the
kickoff, but alas, traffic was quite backed up on the way to Jerry's
Hangout. I maneuvered “Bessie” (our faithful Ford van) as close
as I could to the stadium, where Christi and the younger kids hopped
out to trek the rest of the way on foot. A quick u-turn and a few
minutes later, Blaize, Brodie, Aliyah and I were parked in an offsite
parking lot with 25 minutes to spare. I decided this was a good time
to go over the benefits of exercising whenever you get the
opportunity. They kept up very well (with a minor amount of
prodding) all the way to the stadium entrance. From just outside, we
could hear the excitement brewing inside. We finally made our way
past the Gulag-run inspection point, where all you could carry into
the stadium was the clothes on your back (and, if you're lucky, a
wedding ring on your finger and watch on your wrist). Eight minutes
to kick-off. It was a race to the literal top. Unbeknownst to me,
there were huge escalators that whisked people from the bottom floor
to the upper levels of this 320 foot high structure. I made the
mistake of interrupting a young vendor engrossed in his smartphone as
to how to make our way up to the seats. He paused and pointed to a
sign at the base of some stairs. (In hindsight, I'm wondering if my
Bronco shirt had anything to do with it.) Without missing a beat,
the kids and I sprinted up the steps. After about the 20th
zig and zag, we arrived at the top, only to find we were on the wrong
end of the stadium. I figured a restroom break at this point would
be counterproductive to the goal of kickoff (not to mention
immaterial, since we had sweated out all of the liquid stored up by
this time). Off we sprint to the far end. We popped into the
stadium with a minute to spare – mission accomplished! Christi was
sitting with the younger kiddos and asked why we were sweating so
much. It was then that the fact of escalators was revealed, followed
by a sheepish grin from the dad, followed by a kind, reserved chuckle
from the wise mother.
