A couple minutes later, after I finished with the decorations, guess who casually walked in. Michelle Akers. I'm serious. She just walked in and started talking to people as if she was just your everyday person. I tried to act cool but I couldn't resist so I went up and started talking to her. I thanked her for doing the website and the journals. She asked if I read about her trip and I said of course. I told her that I was the girl who had given the team Beanie Babies during the WWC and she said "Oh yeah! I gave mine to someone who would really enjoy it!" That is so awesome! She signed my program for me then I walked over to talk to my family. Then this girl told me Julie Foudy was over at a table. I said "na-uh" because I knew the pony tail wasnt long enough & anyway Jules wasn't at the game, but the girl swore she already got her autograph. I asked how she got it and she said "Julie came up and asked if wanted her autograph and I said yeah." That sounded like something Jules would do so I walked up behind her and said "Mrs Foudy, can you sign my program." When I saw her face I knew it wasnt Foudy at all. She said "Yeah, but Im not Mrs. Foudy, Im Wendy Gebauer." Ooops, did I feel stupid or what? She asked if I really thought she looked like Jules and I said "from the back, but your hair really isnt as long." She said "hmmm, Julie Foudy? I havent heard that one before. You don't think I look like Carla?" I said "I guess in the face... your chin and your nose." Wendy said "No, I dont have Carla's nose, Carla has a big nose!!!" It was funny. She is so nice, definitely my fave commentator, and she also signed my program.
After I finished talking to Wendy these girls walked up to me and we started talking to me about how excited they were. I told them how I couldn't wait till Tracy came in because she would be so surprised to see me there. They did not believe that she would remember me and they probably did not believe that we are friends. Anyway, they came with me to the beverage cart so I could get some water and guess who I bumped into... Tracy. Those girls were behind me when Tracy said "Yvonne!!! What are you doing here?" and she hugged me. I told her how my sisters & I had been declared the team's biggest fans after camping out for 6 hrs at Toys 'r Us and that some guy there gave us passes. She told me the team loved the candy and Jackson loved his Hot Wheels. She also said she saw me in the stands and waved. I showed her all the posters I made and she thought they were great. She even walked past me once later and said "Yvonne, you're funny." Those girls who were with me watched in awe and kept asking how she knew my name and who I was. Some people just don't listen.
By then alot of high authority people started coming in. Then I saw Fotop outside the door in the hallway so I went and sat back at the team's table incase she came over. But she never came in. Then TR sat at the end of the table and some guy told me I needed to move. I guess my Mia Hamm jersey wasnt that effective? So I moved the chair and went and met Tiff. Actually when I was getting up I told the girls I was about to go meet Miss Roberts and TR looked at me and said "My mom's here?" and I said "Where!" and she said "What?" and I said "I dont know?"... a little bit of confusion. :) I got her autograph and had my pic taken with her, she like totally put her arm around me, it really surprised me. Tracy was sitting to her left, I didn't need her autograph again, I didnt want her to get writer's cramp from signing too many autographs so I got my pic taken with her. Then I met Tisha and had my pic taken with her. Tracy told her I was the candy girl and Tish said "Oh great! We ate half the candy before the game." Then I had my pic taken with Mia. Mia was the last one at the table so I started wandering around and I bumped into Mac. It's not every day that I bump into a Wld Cup Champ, and I bumped into 2 in 1 day!! I was like "oh my gosh" & gasped and she mimicked me doing the the same, it was funny. Christie was behind her so I followed them to the table and had a pic taken with both of them. I apologized to Mac for not putting any Jr Mints in the team's goody bag, she said it was okay and that I made a good selection. I told her she had said she wasn't going to be there (on her website) and she said she was called in for the game just the other day. I asked her if she had the chance to read "Mac:The Musical" yet and she said not yet b/c she hadn't been home in 2 weeks. When I was chatting with Mackie, I spotted Saskia but she sneaked out before I could get a picture.
I wandered around the room somemore and spotted Avre and had a pic taken with her. I guess a lot of the foreigners enjoy the American parties better b/c I then saw Ann Kristin Aarones and Ulrika Karlsson. I got their autographs and had pictures taken with them. They were very nice and I asked Aarones how the world team communicates with each other. She told me they all speak english except for the Brazilians, who have translators. They were both very nice, all this time I have pictured them as evil evil people.
After I finished talking to the foreign players I found Carla talking to some guy in the corner of the room. I introduced myself and told her I was the girl who got Jackson the toys. And we started talking, talking like we were friends, not like I was a fan and she was the captain of the WWC championship team. I got my pic taken with her also. Then she went to a table to sign autographs for the other kids. Then I saw Lauren Gregg and I asked if I could have a picture taken with her and I told her I would be playing on the team soon. She was very friendly.
Then I met Mr Ducar, but I didnt know it was him at first. When Mrs. Gregg told me he was Chris Ducar, I was like "Chris!!" and he said "I recognize that autograph on your arm." I introduced myself and he said "arent you the one who made Tracy a website?" I told about this new one and how much neater it is but Tracy has a measely computer so she couldn't see it. He told me to e-mail him the link because he has the big strong computer. We had our pic taken together and just to let you know, he is very tall, twice Tracy's height atleast. Very tall, I bet he's good at basketball. He's very nice and we talked for awhile. My mom even tried to chime into the conversation by saying "oh are you the one with the restaurant?" Well, you must give her credit, at least she knew one of the hubby's own a restaurant. My mom is pretty cool, how many other parents went through what she went through to make my dream come true??? Anyway, then we found out Tracy possibly locked her keys in the car, I offered to take her home, but Mr Ducar had his car with him so it was no problem. A couple minutes later Tracy said good bye and I told her I was sorry she locked her keys in the car. She said "I hope they are in the locker room."
By then everyone was leaving and Mia got up from the table. I started laughing when I saw her dancing. I guess it was her way of celebrating the end of another autograph session. We had to get going also because we had an 8 hour drive ahead of us. Not to mention my mom had no idea where we were.
In conclusion, I had the best day of my life. There is no word to describe how much fun I had and how nice they all are. Watching them on television, they just seem so untouchable. I think Toys 'r Us was the highlight b/c I did not expect Tracy to be there, so I didn't have time to prepare my self to meet her. I did, however, have a couple hours to prepare myself for attending the party thingy. Not that I really knew what to prepare myself for.
Anyway, I thought it was neat cause in a previous e-mail Tracy told me I would probably find her at the game b/c I had a "knack" for finding her. And then she surprised the heck out of me by showing up at Toys 'r Us and she was probably surprised to see me at the reception. Of course I have always dreamed about meeting Tracy & the team and I always imagine what I would do if I spent the day with them or something, but NEVER in my wildest dreams did I think it would really happen. This kind of stuff just does not happen to me. It'll be weird the next time I attend a game, because no matter what happens, nothing will top that trip. It was my first time meeting any of the players... and everything happened like a dream.
I had all this stuff planned out incase I did meet them like what I wanted autographed by who and questions I would ask them but from the moment I walked into the room I forgot everything. I was in awe. It was like one of those big Hollywood parties where all the movie stars wear fancy dresses, except this was much cooler, everyone was wearing sweats and t-shirts and water was the beverage of choice. My kind of party!!!
A lot of my friends are like: gosh you all are so lucky!! But really we weren't lucky. We were the ones who drove 8 hrs, sat out in front of Toys 'r Us for 6 hours, and enjoyed every minute of it. We aren't gonna make such a trip and not get all decked out with paint and signs and have fun. Thats what you have to do to get attention and we did it. And we had a BALL!!!!
