Rainy Day Basketball Game

Yesterday, the Tar Heels had a noon basketball game at the Smith Center, so we intended to take both girls to the game (which, because of game times late at night or during nap, doesn't happen very often). That was the plan when we woke up. And it lasted until I looked out the window.

Dreary rain. The kind that lasts the entire day. Yuck. I was not keen on the idea of trudging down the hill from the parking garage to the Smith Center, holding an umbrella, carrying Macie in the Baby Bjorn. No, this was not nearly as appealing as sitting on my couch in sweatpants watching the game while Macie took a long nap in the swing.

So Plan B materialized, and Dale and Ivie headed to the game alone.

By halftime, I hadn't heard from them. It was a toss-up as to whether this was good or bad. Either they were having a BLAST, and Dale didn't have need to text me, or Ivie was wearing Dale out and he just didn't have time to call and lament...

So I sent him a text myself:

Amy: "How's it going?"

In a few minutes, the response came:

Dale: "It's going home. Can you record the second half of the game for me?"

Uh-oh. That's not good. Dale Herman, Tar Heels basketball aficionado, doesn't like to leave games early.

So I fretted for the next 15 minutes until they got home, sure that Ivie had made her last appearance solo with Daddy at the Smith Center. Her behavior must have been less than stellar.

When they arrived, Dale said that Ivie had been great, up until the last couple minutes of the first half. When she put on her jacket and started repeatedly saying, "I want to go home. Let's go home, Daddy." After not getting an automatic response, she grabbed Dale's hat and jacket and held it in his face to further her decision that it was time to leave.

I have to hand it to Dale, though. Ten years ago, the thought of leaving the game at halftime would have bothered him to no end. But he's softened since having his little girls. Now the most significant thing to him is their happiness. And it shows in everything he does, including leaving the Tar Heels game early.

You can always watch the rest on TV, right? Being a daddy reigns supreme.