A little back story on this...My wife is a HUGE Niner fan. She is as serious about football as I am about baseball. And if you know me, that's pretty serious. I have tried to find 49er tickets for awhile but ever since last year's excellent season they had, tickets are impossible to get. Well, not impossible but, on our budget, they're impossible for us. If any of you have ever tried to get tickets and been successful without paying over $130 per, let me know.
I decided to surprise my wife on the phone with the news. Excited was not the word, when I told her. When I got home to change she, literally, jumped in my arms. I am not a football fan by any means but, her reaction and excitement made me fired up to go. We quickly change and shoot out the door. We had all the time we needed to get there, get the tickets(which were held by a friend of our cousins), and drive to Candlestick.
We got to about 5 miles from the Bay Bridge and are slowed to stop-and-go traffic. From that point, all the way into San Francisco was slowed to a crawl. By the time we get into inner-city SF, they were already into halftime. "That's OK! We can still get the 2nd half! GO!" We race off to the 'Stick but are SLOWED AGAIN by traffic. It's an impossible trek to get from inner San Francisco in the evening to Candlestick Park.
With a quarter left in the game, we get to the roundabout parking area and AGAIN are slowed by dragging traffic. At one point, we even saw a panicky, young, 'hefty' girl jump out of her vehicle and urinate next to her car. A sight that may take a few years to purge from my brain.
With 10 minutes left in the last quarter, parking authority refuse to let anyone into the parking area. Needless to say, we felt defeated. We had spent nearly 4 hours on the road, mostly in traffic, to get to this point. I looked over to my wife's sad expression, tears in her eyes and I apologized. Being the woman she is, she responds, "It's OK. It's not your fault." Even though I felt like I had let her down in some way. We accepted our defeat and slowly began our trip home.
We never made it to, what was to be one of our 'firsts' together, a professional football game. We got as far as the outside fence of the parking area of Candlestick Park and were halted by forces out of our control.
Someday we will make it to another game. Maybe not this year but in other years to come. I did learn something about my wife and about what is truly important. My wife is a passionate and loving woman. That's not the part I learned. I knew that. What I did learn is this, she is more like me than I thought. She 'feels' not just the game is sport or that it's a physical activity. She loves the game. It's a deep love for not just the ball, the helmet or the uniform but of the atmosphere, the field and the environment. I love this woman.
Thank you, Amanda and Danny. Not only for the opportunity to see the game but for allowing me to have this experience, albeit in odd circumstances.
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