Sunday, July 6, 2014

Meeting a Legend

As you may or  may not know, professional wrestling (WCE, WWF, WWE, whatever you want to call it) is very big in my house.  Steven was involved with it growing up.  My kids got hooked about 3 years ago when they went to a Monday Night RAW while we were on vacation in Virginia.  We have wrestling action figures, wrestling rings, championship belts, T-shirts, trading cards, posters....you name it.  Wrestlers come and go and their names change. But there is one that has lasted through Steven's bout with wresting all the way up to the era of my kids.  Ric Flair!
He was Steven's favorite wrestler growing up and still is.  He's old school to my kids with all the new guys wrestling now, but they definitely know who he is and have watched him wrestle on YouTube.  (Yes, they all know it's fake.)

Well, last night, while at a Gwinnett Braves game at Coolray Field, we got to MEET Rick Flair.  Woooooo!

Here's how it happened....
Steven had said something in passing through the week that some sports radio show he listens to was going to be interviewing Ric Flair.  Great.  I don't really care so I didn't think anything about it.  What I DID pay attention to was a dear friend of my letting me know that her daughter, who wants to pursue a career in performing arts, was going to be singing the National Anthem at Coolray Field on Saturday, July 5.  WE ARE GOING!  That's what I told her and my family.  No question!  We will go support their family and see this wonderful event!

A few days later, as I posted on Facebook, I saw a post from the Gwinnett Braves that Ric Flair would be throwing out the first pitch at an upcoming game.  Knowing how much my family would LOVE that, I wondered if there was ANY chance that it would be the night we would be going.  After a few clicks of the mouse, I discovered that Ric Flair would, indeed, be attending the game the SAME night that we were planning on going.  Cool, right?  Well, there's more.

After further investigation, I also discovered that you could buy tickets that would give you a seat at the game, in a suite, food, AND A MEET AND GREET WITH RIC FLAIR!  Anyone that knows me knows that I don't spend money frivolously.  I am very careful with our money so that we have enough for what we need.  But, when I saw this, there was NO hesitation.  I immediately texted (funny, the blogger is telling me that is spelled wrong) Steven to let him know of the deal and asked him if he thought we had the money for that.  ABSOLUTELY was his reply.  So I immediately called and got 5 tickets for our family to go see Olivia sing and meet 16 time WWE Champion, Ric Flair!  (Did I mention it was also Julio Teheran bobblehead night?  What are the odds?)

I told the kids and they were beyond words!  I got hugs, kisses, tears, you name it.  They were excited.  Little did I know how excited Steven would be as well.  When we got to the stadium last night and caught the first glimpse of  Ric Flair, he was grinning from ear to ear.  We were in a suite with a large group of people that wanted exactly what we came for, a chance to meet Ric Flair.  We saw our dear friend sing the National Anthem (great job!) and watched Ric Flair throw out the first pitch.  While watching the beginning of the game, I suddenly hear a lot of "Woooooo"s behind me.  Ric Flair had entered the suite.  He was so nice and gracious.  The room parted and he went around shaking hands (including Steven).  He then proceeded to sit and start signing autographs and taking pictures, being extremely pleasant to each and every person.

The line was long.  Zach and JJ were supposed to go in the middle of the 3rd inning for an on field game so we were hoping they'd make it.  (They did, after they got autographs.)  All 4 of my boys got to sit next to Ric Flair, get his autograph, and I took pictures of each one.  They loved it!








The Braves won, we all got bobbleheads and the night was filled with Wooooos!  We had a blast!  Some guys in our suite with real replica belts let the boys hold them.  Boy, are they heavy!

















Unfortunately, we found out today that a dear friend of ours, John Laseter, who was the biggest Ric Flair fan I know next to Steven, passed away early this morning.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and family.

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