Well, once again I find myself apologizing for my inability to keep this blog up-to-date; however, life once again got in the way. When I last posted, the Ottawa Braves were rolling through the KCAC. I am happy to report that their roll continued as they were once again KCAC Champions. This means another championship ring and a trip to the playoffs. The final game of the regular season was Senior Day where all the seniors were introduced and recognized. Martha and Larry made the trip from Murfreesboro to support Brenton as did Dee Dee and Poppa, Tim's brother, Terry and his son, Tyler. Cady's folks came up from Tulsa as well. It was a very special day (made even better by happy punch and a 72-6 victory).
Of course victory meant playoffs and we had to wait a day to find out where we were headed. There was talk of Iowa (which would have been fabulous as Shelby could have met us there) or even staying in town and playing MNU in Olathe. Unfortunately, we ended up having to travel to Azusa, CA to play Azusa Pacific. Needless to say, that was not in my budget as flying with the team would cost far too much and flying on my own was even worse. So I was resigned to the fact that I would have to listen to the game on the computer. That was until Cady called wanting to know if I would be interested in driving. I was not - until she talked about what a great adventure it would be. Now, I am old enough to know better, but I realized if I was in her shoes, I would have headed out without another thought. So...I found myself in a car for 50 hours with Cady and my friend Emily from work (Emily had just returned from Afghanistan and 50 hours in a car was nothing to her).
We left Friday at noon from Ottawa and arrived in Azusa around 10 am. We got a cheap hotel room to shower and take a much needed nap, and then headed to the game.
We were surprised at the number of OU fans at the game (thanks to a strong alumni contingent from San Diego). The softball girls made banners for the team (which we hung at perhaps the nastiest stadium I have been in - seems there was a marching band festival at the stadium so we got to play at the practice field - no real locker room for the boys and no restrooms except for 4 porta potties - yuck). Unfortunately, a win was not meant to be. It was so hard to see all the seniors crying. I was SO glad I was there to hug my sweet boy!
What a wonderful experience the past four years has been for Brenton - he was part of the most successful senior class in Ottawa history - 2 conference championships, 4 playoff games, and never finishing lower than 2nd place in the conference. His last home game was also the football program's 1,000th game. The boys will get their championship rings in February! Now to find someone who needs a D and fence...
