Meeting a Blackhawk

I wish his eyes were open, but what can you do!

Last Thursday Jeremy met his first-ever Blackhawk. And honestly, I don't know who was more excited: him or me!

Phil actually heard on the radio that Patrick Sharp was going to be in my hometown on Thursday, and he thought I might want to take Jeremy and meet Sharpie. Heck yeah! So I gave my dad a call to see if we could stop by on Thursday since we'd be in town. To make a long story short, Dad said he'd go to the Wallgreens (where Sharpie was signing) and wait in line for us. Well, when J and I got there, I couldn't find Dad. And of course Dad "forgot" his cell phone. J and I walked up and down the line, which was a few hundred people thick. I even put J on my shoulders in hopes of finding my dad. Nope.

I ended up calling the house and getting ahold of my mom, who just returned from work. She walked (yes, walked) over to the Walgreens and held my place in line so I could find my Dad. Turns out he was actually inside the store--I didn't know the line began inside! So crisis averted. Mom walked back home, and Dad really wanted to leave, but he had the wristband, which we were not able to remove without cutting it off. Dad was stuck. But he brought a folding chair...since he was there at 3 for a 6 pm signing! Special thanks to Dad!

We were about 60 people from the front of the line--the first person was there at noon! It was Veterans' Day, so some kids didn't have school. Plus, come on, it's Sharpie! He actually came in to the store right by where we were standing, which was pretty exciting. And despite Dad having a wristband and J and I not having one, we were able to get two items signed by the time we got up to the front (only about 40 minutes once Sharp began signing).

Jeremy got to Sharp, and I walked up there with him. He put the plastic stick down in front of Sharp, who told J, "Nice stick!."

I said, "Tell Sharp that you were named after a Blackhawk. What's your name?"

J said, "Jeremy."

Me: "Tell him who you were named after."

J: "Jeremy Roenick"

Sharp: "That's cool."

Me: "Tell him who your favorite Blackhawk is."

J turns to look at Sharp and says, "You."

Good answer, boy. Then we got a picture of J and Sharpie, which I'll have to upload. We walked back to Papa's car, who drove us to our car, since we had to park rather far away. We went back to Mom and Dad's for a quick dinner and then headed home. Riley was a tad jealous that she didn't get to go, and I did feel bad, but she got to spend plenty of time with Dad. Who knows, maybe she'll get to join us the next time we meet a Blackhawk!

The signed stick and puck.