My co-worker, Scott, was supposed to have a baby on April 28th. They had gone to their mid-wife about the 5th of April, and she told them she expected this baby to be born right around their due date, as Becky wasn't at all dilated or effaced yet. We had prepared for Scott to be gone, starting about the 20th of April, into about the 3rd week of May. (You have to understand that Scott and I do programs that no one else at our company does, so if we have two programs and one of us is gone unexpectedly, it's a pretty big problem.) You will imagine my surprise, then, when I awoke to my phone ringing at 5 AM on April 9th to Scott's panicked voice telling me his wife was in labor. Oi. (Don't worry, baby and mom are doing just fine, and if you want to see them, click HERE.)
The main reason I was freaking out was because Erik had been asking me for a couple month's to get the 14th off so we could go to Mariner's Opening Day at Safeco Field in Seattle. Scott had told me he would cover the program that day, and the one the next morning so I could go up to the game and make it back in time. I immediately realized that this was going to be a serious problem now, since obviously Scott wouldn't be around to do the programs the next week. I couldn't stand the thought of disappointing Erik, especially after missing his Grandma's funeral because of my Europe trip, so I was freaking out.
I managed to get the teacher to reschedule my lesson for that day, but forgot about trying to figure out the next morning. I knew Erik wouldn't be thrilled, but I also didn't think there was much likelihood that I'd be able to be gone Wednesday morning. Ugh. So Monday morning I tried, but it wouldn't work out. That meant we had to come back Tuesday night after the game. So here are our driving totals for that weekend:
Friday: Portland to Tri-Cities (3 1/2-4 hours)
Saturday: Tri-Cities to Spokane (2-2 1/2 hours) then all over Spokane
Sunday: Spokane to Portland (6-7 hours)
Monday: Portland to Seattle (3-4 hours)
Tuesday: Seattle to Portland (3-4 hours)
So, yeah. LOTS of driving. I think we were both ready to be done with the whole in-the-car thing for awhile by the time we made it back.
We left right after work and drove straight up to spend the night in Kirkland with Erik's aunt and uncle (they are awesome!), slept, then the next morning got up and drove straight down to Safeco, went to the game, then drove straight back to Portland (stopping only for dinner). It was craziness.
The game was a blast, though! If you know anything about Seattle baseball (I'm learning...), Ken Griffey, Jr. used to play for the Mariners and he was kind of a home-town hero. He left for awhile, but everyone there still loves him. It has been a HUUUUUUGE deal that he decided to come back to the Mariners this year, plus it's the 10 year anniversary of Safeco Field, so Opening Day was an even bigger deal than usual (and it's ALWAYS a big deal--who knew?!).
It was freeeeeeeeeezing in Seattle and the forecast called for snow, so we were pretty bummed when they closed the roof (they have a retractable roof!!) before the game. Erik told me before the game, "Once they close the roof, that's it. They don't open it again." So they had lots of pomp and circumstance before the game (including fireworks), but right before the game was set to start, the announcer said, "Opening Day of baseball should be played on green grass under blue sky..." and the roof began to open! It was AWESOME!! (And totally planned, of course, but still super cool.) And what do you know, there was blue sky, sunshine, and not a cloud in sight for almost the entire game! Erik was in heaven. GLORIOUS!
It was seriously a really good time. We had a blast, it almost felt like summer, and it was nice to have a day off to just have fun together. :) I'm really glad we went, even though it was a fast and exhausting trip! Best of all? Mariners WON!
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