Special Moments.

Sometimes in life, we are fortunate enough to be witness to a truly special moment. They can come at you with no warning and at the most unexpected of times. Such was the case last night.

Lesley, Jess, Tawnya and I were gifted tickets to the Denver Nuggets vs. Detroit Pistons game by my father for Christmas. We had EPIC seats. Floor section, row seven, directly behind the Denver bench.

Directly to our right was a family of five. The youngest boy was around the age of seven and was mildly mentally handicapped. He was enjoying the game SO much it was really fun to witness. The special moment I refer to, however, occured right before the start of the second half after the lights came back on from the Vanilla Ice performance (oh so special in quite a different way.) Rocky, the Nuggets mascot, was right in front of us cheering on the crowd and the boy to our right was cautiously approaching Rocky as a few other kids had done. He was smiling so wide but also had a clear look of apprehension and unveiled fear on his face as well. I don’t blame him one bit, mascots have always sort of creeped me out. Something about the giant heads. But I digress… Our boy approached Rocky with his father right behind him gently urging him to shake Rocky’s hand. He did and looked back at his dad with a true sense of awe and accomplishment. Rocky, sensing the importance this interaction had for our boy, put his arms out for a hug to try to take things one step further. Our boy looked at his dad who nodded and smiled.

With a look of determination and yet still so frightened, our boy, shaking and almost in tears, went in for the hug and started laughing and smiling with such pure joy, it was impossible not to tear up and get a few goosebumps to have witnessed this moment of his true happiness and clear moment of growth in overcoming one of his fears.

For the rest of the game, he sat in awe at the spectacle of an NBA game, but would shout Rocky’s name and wave each time Rocky came near. Rocky waved back and I’m pretty sure if mascots could smile, his would be a little larger each time he came close and saw his new friend.

Thank you, Rocky, my mascot phobia has just dwindled.

Beyond that, the game was all time. Me with my Pistons flat brim and the girls with their Nuggets versions made friends, took pics, gave each other crap about the back-and-forth score, drank beer, and existed in awe at how close we were and how large NBA players really are. Oh, and we rapped along with Vanilla to his one and still only hit, Ice Ice Baby. Epic.