A Kid Like Me

We took the girls to the Chicago Blackhawks Training Camp Festival last Monday. It’s a fun time with lots of activities and a scrimmage game. The girls get to sit in the stadium and experience the pre-game activities from singing the National Anthem to watching the videos that come on the scoreboard just before the players take the ice.
The festival used to be on Saturday so we’d go down for the afternoon. For the first training camp festival we took Mom and Dad to see the Stanley Cup. It’s now held on a Monday night, which means we race home from school, do homework, get in the car and drive to the United Center. Even though the girls had something to eat after school, they were hungry when we got into the United Center.
There were lengthy lines to get into the stadium. Even though there was a lot of stuff going on outside, we didn’t linger. We walked through to see everything and then got into a line. Everyone one in line wanted a Duncan Keith bobble head. We knew Daddy was already inside with our bobble head.
We got in and found four seats. The scrimmage has general admission seating meaning it’s first-come, first-serve for all seats. We ended up on the 300-level, just behind the American flag. The girls giggled during the national anthem because everyone looked like they were staring at us. The blond twin waved and a player waved back. She was thrilled. We took turns going to get food so we always had someone in our seats. The brunette twin and I wandered the concourse for a bit looking for something she wanted to eat. The lines were really long. She kept moving to the next place to see if the lines were shorter. We ended up at a place selling turkey or beef sandwiches, salads and hummus. I thought she’d go for the hummus, but she wanted a turkey sandwich. By the time we got up to order, the turkey sandwiches were gone. The brunette twin ordered a roast beef sandwich. We went to our seats and she started eating. She kept picking things off the sandwich to ask what they were. The sandwich had a relish with pickles, peppers and carrots diced into some mayonnaise. She devoured the sandwich. I took a bit and told her how tasty the sandwich was while she told me how much she liked it. She went on and on about how much she liked the sandwich, saying, “Who would have thought a kid like me would like this so much?” I laughed because it was my thought exactly. The girl who won’t eat macaroni and cheese that doesn’t look like what she gets at home was sitting at the United Center devouring a roast beef sandwich with a pickle, pepper and carrot relish. And, she was loving it.