Double the Blessings: Dream Come True!

Jason listens to DFW ESPN all day long and one day he heard that the Mavs Championship Ring Ceremony was going to be in 10 days. He came running into the den and said, "Kim, I've got to talk to you in the bedroom." So we go to the bedroom and close the door from little ears. Then he presents his case... we've got free hotel, we went to the parade, the boys would LOVE it, and the icing on his sales pitch cake... they are playing JJ Barea's new team. So we looked that night for tickets and found some for $15 each. They were in the rafters, but we would still be there. So we bought them and let another wild hair start!

We got to the AAC at 4:30 with a bag of Whataburger to eat in the car. The doors opened at 5:30 and we wanted to be first in line. We read on the website that they let fans go to the bottom for up to 45 minutes before tip-off. So we wanted to get a prime place up front.

After eating our burgers, we waited and waited... third in line! The boys played basketball with a pretend ball, spied on other fans and looked at this SUV.

They could hardly stand it! Of course, they KNEW they would get everyone's autograph and become BFF (I don't know WHERE they get their vivid dreams!).

The minute the doors opened, we grabbed our 4 free Dr Pepper shirts and RAN to section 104. We were on the front row and had our Shapries, paper and posters ready. Brian Cardinal was the first Mav to stop by! He stayed and chatted for a few minutes. The Custodian was so gracious and kind, especially to the boys.

Then Coach Darrell Armstrong came by. He was super pumped and so loud and chatty! We were so happy to meet him!

At this point, Haywood and West were the only ones still out there shooting around. Then on the other side the gathered folks started cheering. It was JJ Barea! We watched him as he went from media person to media person to season ticket holders to media person and the clock was ticking away. He was about 100 yards away when the security dude told us it was time to go up. Well, this momma was NOT going to move. So what did I do? What any self-respecting half-crazy momma would do to get the attention of her son's favorite NBA player... she used the lungs and voice the Lord blessed her with and her long arms to yell and wave like a fool! hahahahaha Poor Jason! Well, it worked!

My precious camera was not going fast enough to keep up with the fun! JJ looked us straight in the face and talked to us!

Kim "THank you JJ. You are my son's favorite player! He was you for Halloween!"

JJ "OOOOOOO - Thank you!" Give Jacob a high five then reaches up and signs his jersey as it was on Jacob's body! Words cannot express Jacob's expression.

Kim "Thank you JJ - YOu made his life!"

Then JJ moved to Rylan. We were all shaking with excitement!

Jacob kept looking at the poster and gently touching the jersey autograph all night. Giving this kid $1 million dollars would not have topped meeting JJ Barea!

So then we left and went up the the rafters. At least we got a good view of the Championship Banner!

My boys! My Maverick loving boys!

JJ stayed with the Mavs during the main warm-up. It made me a little sad to not see him in a Mavs jersey! Here he is cutting up with JKidd.

Then the Ring Ceremony began. I cried a little. Rick Carlisle was the MC and he had such heart-felt words to say about each player. It was really sweet!