Paul's Heart

Our “Super” Baby

There are events in your life that occur that you can recall where you were when they happened such as 9/11, the Space Shuttle Disasters. Songs can often trigger memories of old boyfriends or girlfriends or perhaps vacations. Aromas can remind you of Grandma’s cooking. You might forget something your spouse just told you moments ago, honestly forgot, no really, it does happen. But something that happened so long ago can help you to recall every minute detail.

Though I was born and raised in the Philly area, and raised on Philly sports teams, back in the early 80′s my choice in football teams to a very unusual turn from a fairly successful team in the Eagles, to a dismal, perrenial loser, the Seattle Seahawks. I have been a diehard fan since 1981. If I was lucky, I might get to see a playoff game every few years, and I was grateful for that. The Super Bowl for me would become about the funniest commercial and pools.

In the 21st century, the Seahawks had finally turned things around, and were making regular trips to the playoffs. They still did not go very far, but they were getting there, and it seemed more often than the Eagles, so I was not getting much grief my the team of my choice.

2005 was a very special year for Wendy and I. We passed the one year mark required to wait to submit our paperwork to adopt a second child from China. We basically had everything ready to go and just had to wait on the calendar. In the Fall, the Seahawks were looking very good and pretty much dominated their devision. This was a good diversion for me while we waited for the referral of our newest family member. But by the end of December, it becamse clear that Seattle was a definite contender in the playoffs. In early January the Seahawks had a bye in the first round, not having to play. Later that week, a picture and information arrived about Emmalie. While several of my co-workers were very happy for our daughter-to-be, they were actually more concerned talking football and how serious my Seahawks looked. But my excitement for the team was definitely reserved. The Seahawks have not really ever shown any real promise and I did not want to get my hopes up. And then they won their next game. They would face the Rams for the NFC Championship. I am not known for making Joe Namath-like statements, but I was certain now that the Seahawks would be going all the way to the Super Bowl. I told everyone, bet everything you have on the Seahawks over the Rams. I was going to get walloped by Murphy’s Law with no chance of parole. You see, I sent my paperwork signed just days before which meant we would be travelling to China soon to complete the adoption. My gut told me, we were going to be travelling over the time period of the Super Bowl. And that was why, after the Seahawks having never appeared in the Super Bowl in their existence, the Seahawks were going to be in that game.

And then the travel approval came, and yes, we were set to fly to Hong Kong on February 6th, the day of the Super Bowl. New to the technology, but confident, I set our DVR, high definition for the Super Bowl. I would watch it when I came back. I dressed our then-three year old in a special Seahawk cheerleader outfit and then boarded the airplane with seemingly every other passenger wearing Pittsburg gear. Though I requested Continental to carry the game on the plane, the airline said they could not. Yet after we landed in Hong Kong, every passenger seemed to know the score.

Later that day, our Super Baby was placed into our arms. When we got home, it turned out, that Wendy had DVRed all of her soap operas and something that I did not realize, that as the unit reached capacity of memory, the older programs automatically delete. So when we returned home eleven days later, the memory of the DVR box sat at 65%, because it has dumped 45% of the memory that had been recorded of the Super Bowl. So far it has been six years, and no more Super Bowls. Just my Super Baby is growing up so quickly. And she loves to sit with me watching the Seahawks.