As a season-ticket holder for the Sounders I have to ditch the family fifteen to twenty times a year to immerse myself in the rave-green, soccer-loving raucous stadium. At least when they're winning. When they play like crap the atmosphere is more sedate. But win or lose, good mood or dour I'm still ditching the family. As much fun at that is, and it is, occasionally I'm dumb enough to try to include my children.
Maybe I am crazy, but society made me what I am. Or not, but I firmly believe we are the product of the decisions we make and you have no one to blame but yourself for whichever predicament you're in. So it was my own fault that I had to try to corral two small children in a crowd of 30,000 people last season. The important thing is that I learned from that decision. I learned I'd never do that again. Instead I decided to take them both to a game this season - but only one at a time. Divide and conquer, that's my motto.
I exaggerate at times, Jack was a dream both times he went to games. He slept through both games. That does make him easy to manage but doesn't give him much of a chance to enjoy the outing, which is a good part of the reason I took him. Lucas presented a different problem. He doesn't want to sit through an entire game. I know that, but I take him anyway - time together, bonding, all that crap. So instead of a trip to Seattle for me to watch a game somewhat free of child-ditching guilt I tried to make this last occasion more enjoyable for him. I arranged for Jon to bring Xander along but didn't tell Lucas ahead of time. As much as Lucas said he was excited to go to the game, finding out the Xander was coming along was an actual thrill for him. But it wasn't the only surprise. As luck would have it, the Sounder commuter train was running this day (it only matches the soccer schedule a couple of times a year) so Jon and I chose to treat the boys to a train ride. What could be better?
A win would be nice, but the home team disappointed the faithful on this sunny Saturday. Oh well, Lucas found diversion in the stands. Tops on his list was the confetti. Jon and I have seats on the aisle so Lucas was able to scamper out on the steps to pick up the mylar flecks whenever he wanted. Which was far more often than a reasonable person would suspect. He also seemed to enjoy climbing up and down from his seat. Keep in mind that our section stands for the entire game, so a person of Lucas' size isn't able to see. Standing on the seat helps. Also, keep in mind his ticket was for another part of the stadium. Our section is sold out, but luckily contains some very considerate people. They "scooched" down again to make room for the kids.
This latest home loss leaves the Sounders winless in front of my boys, maybe they’re bad luck. Xander, for his part, watched the game and taught the rest of us some hand wavy magic-inducing nonsense. I only say that because the Sounders never did score so his magic isn't worth a shit.
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