A "Super" Bowl Day

The Super Bowl has kind of become a holiday of sorts in our country. A day when people throw big parties, have large gatherings, eat copious amounts of food and often celebrate their teams win (or in our case a few years ago a loss). What I realized on Sunday was that it has also, like any holiday, become about family. That part is what made my Super Bowl Sunday so "super".

The day started much like any other Sunday. Woke up, got my coffee, picked up a paper, etc. The younger daughter had to run off to work pretty early and I had an errand to run of my own. So unlike some other Sunday's a lot was accomplished early in the day. Luckily the early start paid off. It paid off big.

The day was set up pretty well the week prior. You really have no idea how shocked I was about the TV purchase. 50 inches of TV viewing genius. Further shock hit me when the sound system was added. Seems extravagant for something that originated because we wanted a better WII Bowling experience. However, it helped everything come together. I was pretty excited to watch the big game and we had spent considerable time in the basement watching the new TV or playing WII in the days leading up to the big game.

At around 1PM I picked up the younger daughter from work. With our grocery list in hand we picked up the goods for our Super Bowl "party". We also picked up stuff for dinner. I am always flattered when you guys want something for dinner that I cook. I am not sure you really understand why I like to cook so much, but I really do. So much of what I do for a living isn't tangible. Whatever I do at work isn't so much for me but for someone else. Cooking is something I can do and see my accomplishment when I am done. It must be a "guy" thing. I get the same feeling when I mow the lawn. I mean really, why would I always say "hey the grass looks good" after I mow it? really who cares right? Anyway that the younger daughter had a craving for a meal I cook had me a little excited. I really wanted to make it for her. Even if it meant "interrupting" the Super Bowl.

We got back around 2PM and we all kind of headed into the basement. You settled in on the couch. Tired from our night out. You always look so pretty when you sleep. When you so peacefully nap in the middle of the day, you look even more beautiful.

The younger one and I started playing MarioCart. Frankly I suck at that game. Suck pretty bad. However, I haven't had so much fun with her in a long time. We raced nearly every track. She won almost every race (technically she always beat me, but her real foe become the *other* racers). We laughed quite a bit. Yelling at the WII for doing things like blowing us up, or falling into the abyss or getting oiled and not being able to see while drove. We played for almost 2 hours. You woke up (or maybe we woke you - still not clear on that) about halfway through. You watched us and at points even cheered her on to victory (OK it was subtle cheering but I saw you pulling for her). We had a really good time.

The you and her went upstairs to bring down the snacks. wee have certainly had more elaborate Super Bowl spreads in the past. But on this particular one I didn't need any more than we had. The 3 of us sat down there watched the pre-game and munched away. We were all horrified at the "presidential" interview before the game, we discussed the game that was about to be played and just hung out together.

The game started boring enough but for some reason we all stayed down there watching almost every minute of it. The younger daughter seemed more interested in the game that usual. She asked lots of questions about why they would call timeout or run a particular play. You joined right in and we had some pretty good foot ball talk going on for a while. The game kind of ebbed and flowed and we even debated the controversial 100 yard return that took place just before the half ended.

At half time I went up and started dinner. I am not sure what you guys did downstairs the whole time, but I could hear you talking about something. I missed watching the halftime show, but when I got back downstairs you filled me in on the details. So even though all I did was hear the halftime show, I felt like I saw it anyway. Eventually dinner was ready and we all sat down to eat. Once we finished I did the dishes so i could get back downstairs as quickly as I could.

The game wound up being pretty exciting and we all watched the finish together. Towards the end you started chatting with the older daughter. I was quite touched to hear she was rooting for the Steeler because "Daddy likes the Steelers". I was on the fence up to that point (grandfathers team versus the ultimate underdog - big dilemma), but after that comment I WAY on the Steelers side. In the end they pulled it off and we all came away winners.

The after what seemed like a 4 hour post game (the younger daughter must have thought it was 10 hours) the 3 of us watched the new episode of the "The Office" together. We all laughed so hard. It was one of the best episodes ever ("the fire is shooting at us"). Then the younger daughter gave me a kiss and went off to bed. We soon followed and Super Bowl Sunday was over.

I guess all of this seems like rambling. But what struck me afterwards (actually on my flight to MSP) was what a great day it was for us as a family. We spent nearly 9 hours in the basement together. We enjoyed ourselves together. It probably wasn't all that important, but to me it just illustrates what a great family we have. With one already off at college, you have to make every moment with the younger one count. It was so nice that we could have such a nice and somewhat impromptu day together. We make lots of big memories for the kids. Things like vacations, big events, Christmas, etc. But I think what we will ultimately remember are the millions of little memories we have made.

So this is going to go down as one of my favorite Super Bowls. It really was a "super" day. Thanks sweetie, without you the day wouldn't never have happened. You have nearly 20 years of building this family. It remains your greatest accomplishment.

Baby you're the world to me and I love you more than anything in the world. (I like the combination - nice call).