“Our seats have improved since we’ve been married.”

That’s what the wife said when we took our seats to watch the Denver Nuggets take on my favorite team, the Boston Celtics.  We’ve been to about 5 or 6 Celtics games since we’ve lived in Denver.  For this game, we bought 100 level tickets.  I think we were row 18, seats 19 and 20.

We took our seats and looked around the arena.  The court was right there, the players looked huge, and the upper deck looked so far away.  Looking up, I said to the wife, “Hey, remember sitting way up there when we first got married?”  She replied, “I do.  A lot has changed since then,” and we began to talk about what life was like almost 10 years ago.

Our wedding took place in August of 2008.  The Celtics had won their 17th championship that June, so when the next season rolled around, we went to go see the defending champs when they came to town.  At that time, I had just started my management position at my current job, the wife was in the first year of her new job and moonlighted as a server at Red Lobster.  We were newlyweds, we had spent a lot of our savings on our wedding, we were deep in debt because of our student loans and cars, and we had a medical bill to pay off.  We were broke, but we didn’t know it.  About two weeks after the game, the engine on my car would blow.  We found out just how broke we were.

We reminisced about our nosebleed seats in the 300 level that year.  The game was a Celtics blow out.  The defending champs routed the helpless Nuggets 114-76.  The boys in green were up by 28 points after 3 quarters.  The arena cleared out, the ushers quit checking tickets, and the wife and I snuck down to the 100 level for the final 12 minutes.  We weren’t alone.  The Boston faithful invaded the lower bowl and about 2,000 of us reveled in the already decided outcome for the entire 4th quarter.

That would be the last time we’d buy tickets in the 300 level.  After the motor on my car blew a couple of weeks after the game, we decided to change our life.  We spent the next 20 months getting out of debt.  The wife had heard of this program called “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey.  After a week of heavy convincing, the wife talked me into taking the challenge.

It was a huge step.  We’d have to make sacrifices.  We cut all kinds of expenses.  We gave up cable.  We got rid of our internet.  We sold our new cars and bought old ones.  We sold a few other things.  We had to swallow our pride (me more than the wife).  We had to tell our friends we couldn’t make plans because we couldn’t afford it.  We didn’t do much of anything.  We waited 3 years to go on a proper honeymoon.  And, we did it with the wife’s hours being cut back at work.  She took on extra shifts at Red Lobster while finishing her master’s degree.

After 20 months of clawing, scratching, and saving, we made our last student loan payment; our last payment on what we owed.  It was time to celebrate and how did we do it?  We got Celtics tickets right behind their bench…row two.  We could see the sweat drip off the players, hear Doc drawing up a play, and hear KG’s colorful language in the huddle.  The Celtics lost that game, but the wife and I had won.  We were free and life wouldn’t be the same.

Fast forward to 2018.  I’m 10 years into my career.  The wife has started her own business and her days of slinging crab are long gone.  We’ve moved out of our apartment and bought a home.  We have two little girls.  We sold those old cars and have upgraded.  I’m purchasing tickets online for this year’s game.  I ask the wife, “Where do you want to sit?”  She replies, “Just get good seats.”  Click, click, boom. Done. 100 level.  The game was great.  The Celtics won a nail-biter 111-110 and we went home happy.

About a month later we’d go to another game with some friends.  We chose the Nuggets versus the Detroit Pistons because our friends are fans of the team from the motor city.   We won the tickets from a contest at our chiropractor’s office and our seats were almost identical to the ones we had at the Celtics game.  Our friends commented on how great the seats were.  I just smiled and agreed.  They were great and it was an awesome time.

We have a lot for which to be thankful.

(Listening to P.M. Dawn – I’d Die Without You)

We get out of the car and Littles says to the little girl getting out of the car next to us, “You look really beautiful.”  That’s who Littles is.  She has such a kind heart and I couldn’t be more proud of her.  Forget the show we saw that night, forget the fun time we had; Littles telling another little girl she looked beautiful is what I’ll remember from that night.

The reason why Littles said that?  The little girl next to us was decked out in her Ariel dress because we were going to “The Little Mermaid” at the Pace Center in Parker, CO.  Instead of her Ariel dress, Littles opted to wear her mermaid jammies since it was going to be a late night and she wanted to be cozy.  Yeah, she’s like her mom and thinks ahead and plans; however, when we got out of the car and she saw that girl, I could see it on her face, “Oh man, I wished I had worn my dress! She looks so nice.”  Instead of complaining or being jealous, she decided to tell that girl she looked beautiful and I thought, “That’s my sweet girl.”

Littles loves music and she loves her movies, so when the wife told me there was a production of “The Little Mermaid” going on in nearby Parker, my response was, “Get the tickets.  She’s going to lose her mind!”  Plus, it was just going to be the three of us; little sister would have to stay home because she would have found a way to run up on the stage because, well, that’s what little sister does right now.  And, Littles enjoys the private “mommy/daddy time.”

We got to the theater, grabbed some snacks, and took our seats.  Watching Littles watch a musical is almost more entertaining than watching the musical.  Her mind in basically in a state of continuous blown for three straight hours.  Not a moo, not a clack, not a peep.  She sits there, completely still, her eyes the size of silver dollars.  It’s like watching someone watch someone else defuse a bomb.  It’s incredible to watch her process what’s going on.  If I could read her mind it might go something like this, “Okay, they look real.  They are real people.  If they’re real people, then that’s a real Ariel.  So is Ariel real?  She’s real!!!  But wait, she’s not real when I watch her on TV, so is she real, or is this real Ariel real? Aggherherhshdfshdf!  I don’t care, this is great!”  I think she realizes that Ariel isn’t really real, but the production is so huge and so visually stimulating that for 3 hours, reality goes out the window.  Amazing.

The show was excellent.  The acting was great, the singing was great, and Littles loved it; then the real fun began.  She actually got to meet the cast!  They were all there, Ariel, Prince Eric, King Triton, Flounder, everyone…and she couldn’t wait to meet them.  She was all smiles from ear to ear, and the cast was very gracious, taking pictures with all of those who wanted to.

It was time to leave, so we jumped in the Pilot and headed home.  Littles told us how much she liked the show and was telling us how much fun it was to meet everyone, and then the back seat suddenly got very quiet.  It was way past bedtime and the high was over.  Reality set back in and Littles crashed.

It’s nights like this when it’s fun to know Littles is at the age where she’ll start remembering things.  When I think about the wife and I taking Littles to this show, it reminds me when I was about her age and my sister was in a production of “Annie.”  I remember going to watch rehearsals and going to the show.  It’s one of my earlier childhood memories and looking back, it probably had a huge influence on the direction of my life.  I was very involved in music and drama in school and I wonder if Littles will have similar interests because of her early memories.  She already loves to sing and dance, and is very interested in music.  I hope so, because I think she’d be great at it; but if not, I already know I’m proud of her.  When you told that girl she looked beautiful, you were beautiful, because you were so kind.  And that’s what I’ll remember from this night,   along with the fun we had.

Love you, Littles.