To celebrate the New Years, Lance and I went to Atlanta with his parents for the Chick-fil-a Bowl. I had never been to a bowl game so I was really excited. I'm not a huge fan of massive crowds...so I was a little nervous too. We had made our plans a little late so we had trouble finding a hotel room close to the Georgia Dome. We did manage to find one room at Comfort Suites. It was a perfect little walk to the dome and because it is right near Underground Atlanta, it had a perfect view of the Peach Drop at New Years.
We had a delicious dinner at Ruth's Chris before the game. We then strolled to the dome and I was so impressed that Lance's mom managed the walk with us. She is awaiting her surgery to fix her knee...and spent the whole evening in a leg brace. What a trooper!
When we got to the the entrance of the dome, we ran straight into our friends, Kate and Jonathan...what a small world!!! I had just texted Kate to tell her we had just arrived at the game but didn't think we would get to see them.
Not exactly part of our plan...we then had to make our way through the 100,000 people gathered around the peach drop. Wonderful! Please picture this, the four of us (Darlene in her leg brace) moving inch by inch through all the crazies that had hunkered down in their chosen spot to ring in the New Year. We finally made it so the Comfort Suites was in sight, only to see the police barracade that surrounded our hotel haven. If only we had something to bartar with the thousands that remain between us and our "comfort suite":) Judging all the 'smells' that we could smell as we made it through the crowd, I'm sure we could have found something to trade for a couple of feet closer (if you know what I mean...)
FINALLY, we ran into a hotel employee who was wheeling an elderly man in a wheelchair through the crowds. For a second, I pitied him a little more than us but then I saw it as an opportunity. We quickly linked up with them and made it safely through the doors of our hotel. With a huge sigh of relief and a couple of laughs, we stated the obvious...."we need a drink!" We made it to the elevator and were joined by a fun couple that had obviously been celebrating the end of 2011. The woman so graciously sprinkled each of us with 'good luck glitter' for 2012 and wrapped mardi gras beads around Darlene's neck! On any other day, I would have quietly hid behind Lance to avoid eye contact with this couple, but that night...I bowed my head right over so I could get a huge helping of the glitter. I needed all the good luck I could get;)
The fun didn't end when we got up to our suite...we had a perfect viewing of the peach drop and also two big fights that erupted in the massive crowd below. It was both exciting and a little scary that we were just venturing through that exact spot. We toasted the New Year's quietly in our room...thanking God for another year and for our survival of the exciting evening! What an INTERESTING way to ring in 2012!
On a deeper note...I feel so blessed by all that 2011 had to offer us.. a healthy and beautiful baby boy, a new home, a new path for our future in Gadsden, wonderful friends and family, and most of all we are blessed and excited for what 2012 holds for our little family! Happy New Year's to you and yours:)
Oh my gosh that sounds like a crazy New Years. And I had no idea about Darlene's knee. Tell her she can vent to me allllll she wants. I have been there and done that, a few times!
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