from professional football to prescription cough syrup

Phil and I had a great time in Seattle last weekend. We splurged on a way nice hotel room, I think he ended up with a pretty good birthday bash, and he got a new Seahawks T-shirt to boot. The only thing I would've done differently is called the stadium ahead of time and had his name in lights on the big screen for all to see. Something like - Happy 42nd birthday, Phil Bergland! Your wife loves you!!!! Wouldn't that have been cool right there?

I think stadiums are pretty amazing because even though they're big, they don't really look as big on the outside as they do once you are inside.


See what I mean? That's a lot of seats. You totally feel like a midget in there.

I couldn't believe how much louder the fans at football games are compared to the fans at baseball games. I seriously needed ear plugs quite a few times. I think I have sensitive ears, the TV is usually way too loud, I come home from concerts with my ears ringing for days, and pencils rolling across desks drive me insane. (OK, maybe that's more of a pet peeve than an ear sensitivity issue.)

We had, as my dad would say, nosebleed seats. They definitely weren't the best seats in the place, but really, they weren't too bad. We were right about straight up from the 40 yard line. I just felt like I couldn't lean over too far or I'd fall and no one would ever be able to find me. It was so steep getting up to our seats.

Besides everyone waiting in line for almost the entire 3rd quarter to get something hot to drink, Seattle fans also have a deep appreciation for this clown. I can't rememer his name, but apparently he's been around for a long, long time. He got them all rowsed up when they raised the 12 flag. I'm not sure exactly what that's all about, but it's a really big deal out in these parts. So much so that I could probably hook you up with a t-shirt that has that same 12 on it if you want.

This flag was pretty neat, I thought. They held it completely still until the part in the Star Spangled Banner that goes, "Oh say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave. . ." Then the place went crazy again as they made it look like it was waving. Two seats over from me was a young guy in the military. It was hard not to notice how respectfully he stood at attention through the national anthem.

The other flags that raised a ruckus were these ones. These highly coordinated people ran them across the field every time the Seahawks made a touchdown. They came from opposite corners and crossed paths at the 50 yard line. Just before I took this picture, we thought there was going to be a collision. That would not have been good.

I woke up the next morning with that dreaded scratchy throat feeling. By Monday morning I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. So all week, on the first week of school, I've been coughing, and stuffed up, my eyes were watering like crazy, and yesterday I just about lost my voice. It's just been a mess. Then I discovered that Phil had some of his prescription cough syrup with codine left over from an earlier summer visit to the doctor's office. And not only did he have some left, but he also had a refill available. And he was kind enough to stop at the pharmacy on his way home from work Tuesday to get some more. God works in mysterious ways.