Draft Day


You have to be pretty football oblivious to not know what the Chicago Bears did on Thursday Night.  Due to the answer I received Friday Night, I counted Hannah in that category.  On Thursday morning, I asked Hannah (I have been told I talk too much in the mornings) "what are the bears going to do today?"  She responded, "I don't know, baseball is boring."

She was right on many levels.  Baseball has been pretty boring especially being a Sox fan.  However, today (1 month into season) was the sox first (and quite possibly only) TWO game winning streak.

Audrey and I at Guaranteed Rate Field

 On Saturday, March 16, the Bears traded away Justin Fields.  

It made me think of the day that Hannah, Audrey and I had hoped to see Justin Fields at Bears training camp last year.  I had Bears training camp tickets for August 10, 2023.  But Audrey didn't meet Justin Fields that day.  She met Jesus that day. 

Like Audrey, Justin Fields had normal development before he was diagnosed with epilepsy.  Audrey was one year old.  Justin Fields was 15.  

I have put a lot of stock in Justin Fields.  Not only as a Bears fan who has been not so patiently waiting for our franchise QB, but for an epilepsy dad looking for role models.


On April 29, 2021, the Bears traded up to draft Justin Fields with the 11th pick in the draft.  Less than 3 months later, I bought Audrey and I matching Fields' jerseys.  


It was stated that Thursday Night, Caleb Williams' jersey became the most purchased jersey on the night of a draft, beating out Caitlyn Clark.  I will be rooting for Caleb to do what no other QB has done for the Bears since Sid Luckman and lead them to sustained success, but I was not one of those who bought a number 18 jersey.

At the beginning of the post, I mentioned that Hannah responded "I don't know, baseball is boring," when I asked Hannah about the Bears on Thursday morning.  I am insinuating that she didn't get it.  But she did.  On Thursday, she also asked "What team did Justin Fields get traded to?"  When I responded, she asked "Can we be Steelers fans now?"

I said we could cheer for the Bears and the Steelers.  Hannah and I cuddled and watched the 8 next picks until the Bears chose Rome Odunze with the 9th pick.  I remember the last Bears jersey that I had that wasn't a Bears legend.  I had David Terrell's #83 jersey.  That jersey was long sent to goodwill.  I have a feeling that Justin Fields' #1 jersey will have a place in my closet for a while, much like certain someone who will always have a place in my heart.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The last first? Sometimes the second is harder than the first.

Image
I started writing this post on Monday July 15th after experiencing many firsts and seconds on as we approach the anniversary of Audrey leaving for heaven.   This post took me over three weeks to write.  I had to think about why it took so long and the truth is, I am not on the same calendar that I used to be. I knew the fourth of July was going to be hard.  Audrey loved the fourth.  On social media, Mandy posted pictures of Audrey enjoying all of her summer favorites.  From June 26th to July 4th, Mandy posted a different picture of Audrey's summer favorites.  Starting on July 1st, she posted a daily picture of Audrey loving the fourth of July. Those pictures meant a lot and meant a lot to see Audrey's loved ones interact and share summer memories.  When Mandy took Hannah to the bathroom, I looked to my phone to look at pictures of Audrey.  I was surprised when I found this picture. This picture made me smile for many reasons 1. It encapsulate...
Read more

It Doesn’t Get Any Easier (Amanda's)

Image
  When we first lost Audrey, people often said, or we read in grief books, how in child loss it doesn’t get any easier. There was always some variation of:  It’s hard to know what “it doesn’t really ever get any easier” means when you’re first in the throws of it though, and the shock is so intense. I’ve also come to understand that for me, personally, the shock has been profound and longer lasting than for some others. 15 months in, it’s still really hard for me to grasp most days that Audrey is gone, and that it’s permanent. But it truly isn’t any easier than it was in those first weeks. Which is really hard to fathom if you think about it- How can our world still be as rocked and shaken as it was then, how can this still be as painful and sad and traumatic as then?- Yet it still is. The sadness seems only to grow deeper and the fullness of missing all of who Audrey is continues to grow in our lives. Our family wasn’t complete before she came into our lives, and now we a...
Read more

(Amanda's) Disorganized Thoughts- Approaching One Year

Image
I can’t believe it’s almost been a year without Audrey. I’ve tried several times in the past year to write, but I can never quite put my thoughts together into anything coherent to share. Many of you that are closest to me have listened to me attempt to share about grief in the past year- I appreciate your patience and understanding as I ramble on, sometimes with emotion and sometimes without, tend to ruminate over the same thoughts again and again, and try to capture the ways that I am missing Audrey, which are so hard to convey into words. I find the sadness becoming heavier again as the anniversary approaches. I try to focus on what my faith says is true about where Audrey is now and about how God loves and holds her, but the sadness and trauma of the events replay often. The natural rhythms of events that recur annually feel like counting down this year, reliving and replaying our ‘last’ of whichever special time it was with Audrey, leading up to August 7 th -10 th , and what...
Read more