Team Captain

Today was another amazing opportunity day. Usually opportunities for Ruby means opportunities for our family too. That was definitely the case today!

When Ruby was living in the hospital, she and I would make a trip down to the garden area every morning (and usually every afternoon too!). We were such regular visitors that a woman (Amy) who worked in one of the ground level offices overlooking the area came out to introduce herself one morning about a month in because she'd seen us out there every day. We've kept in loose online contact over the years, even when Amy started working for the stadium instead of the hospital.

As September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month, there are 'gold' events at sports arenas all over the place right now. Our friend, Amy, contacted us a few weeks ago about attending a soccer game where they planned to gather families from all over Atlanta that have been affected by childhood cancer to form a gold ribbon on the field before kickoff. Unfortunately we couldn't attend. But a few days after I turned the offer down, Amy reached out to me again to ask if Ruby would be interested in being honorary Team Captain for Atlanta United for a game the following week. WOW!! This meant that all five of us could attend the game and Ruby and a parent would take the field for the national anthem.

This resulted in Ruby and I hanging out on the sidelines at Mercedes Benz stadium even before Atlanta United came out to warm up. Then, when they warmed up, the woman escorting us was made aware of a few extra field passes, and she asked if I thought the rest of our family would want to come down to the field too. Eli couldn't get down to us fast enough!

So we all watched the team warm up, and a few players came over to say hi (Eli's mind was blown!). Then, just before the team was about to be announced, Ruby went to the locker room entrance with our escort so that they could lead the team through the tunnel and onto the field. Ruby did SO great, grabbing the ball at the right time and standing so attentively on the field. She did not walk out like we planned (the escort carried her), but everything else was flawless. 

As soon as she exited the field, we were ushered out of the field area and back into general population. We found our seats and enjoyed the game. Both teams scored pretty quickly, but it was still a tie going into the 90th minute of the game. When Atlanta United scored the winning goal, the place went bonkers, including Ruby!