Griffins Game

I was given tickets to last night's GR Griffins game. The tickets were given to Doctor by one of our labs and he gave the tickets to a couple of us in the office who wanted to go to the game. Corey was unable to go and I just wasn't sure I wanted to take Rhianna by myself, but she insisted so we went. The pre-game gathering and concessions were to start at 6pm however, I didn't leave work until 5:30pm and still had to pick Rhianna up from childcare. She was wired and a bit out of control and I was exhausted from my long of work. I thought for a moment of calling it all off. We made it down town to find all four parking lots around the arena full. I drove to Market and Cherry where a man flagged me down to pay $5 to park in his garage. We walked quickly to the arena and went in through a suite entrance. I was so turned around. I've been to VanAndel arena maybe four times in the past fifteen years. We missed the pre-game activities along with the concessions and quickly located our awesome seats. The game was about to begin. They open with a very cool song and everyone waves their cell phones to create the mood lighting in the dark arena. Rhianna waved her MP3 player and thought it was very cool. She sat in her seat the whole night. I was so proud of her. She wanted to know all about the hockey game and got involved. She was the one who told me the Griffins were playing against the Moose! She even chose to remain in her seat for half time rather than checking out what the bathrooms were like! I pulled my phone out at one point to take a picture of us but was distracted with the need to cheer and clap with both of my hands. I have no pictures from our awesome time together. At 8:15pm I leaned over to tell her we needed to leave and sadly she stood up to go. Again I was so turned around. She grabbed my hand and pulled me in the direction we needed to go. She led me to a set of doors I was sure we hadn't come in and she pointed to a sign and said, "It says suity entrance, I know!" We continued to walk hand in hand, with Rhianna leading the way to our car. Again, I was so proud of my girl and yet a little saddened how quickly she is growing up. We made it home safe and hit our beds right away for 5am would come very soon.