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The loss was sad, but the electricity of downtown was palpable. I love the Thunder, and I love what they've done for our town. They've actually turned me into an NBA fan. (Me? Basketball? Really? Yes. I wrote a column about it.) One of our sports columnists, Berry Tramel, has a great column about the game and what the team means to the city.
The morning was absolutely fantastic! Mia, Clay and I were spectators. We cheered for Leigh and Joe on Britton Road. OK, so Mia slept through that part. But Clay and I made signs and cheered. OK, so I held the sign because Clay was embarrassed of me. No matter. It was still really exciting to see each of them come by! Here's Joe (the one in the blue shirt with black and white socks):
And Leigh (the only brown guy for miles):
Then we drove to Leigh's finish line. Here we are passing Leigh. What a trooper!
Joe and Leigh passed us again. Here's a photo of Joe, who I'm pretty sure is shouting, "Stop stalking me!"
And here's Leigh:
After all that excitement, we decided to counteract Leigh's exercise by getting brunch. Mia tried broccoli and cheese soup for the first time.
Long story short: he was amazing!
Short story long: I'll tell you what happened. I worked from home this morning because my pal Mike Caton was fixing up our bathroom. Carrie Dean and I decided to have lunch. Then I heard from Michael Kimball that the Thunder would be arriving at the airport at 3:30 p.m. So then I said to Carrie, let's go see them on my lunch break. So our friend, Susanne Temple, decided she'd leave work early and meet us at the airport. The three of us would all arrive to cheer our faces off for the best NBA team ever!
Well, the bathroom repair took a turn for the worse. This sealant Mike put down made me feel awful, so I had Carrie pick me up early. We drove down to the airport and turns out, the Thunder was early! There they were, getting off the plane, and it was just me, Carrie Dean, two random ladies and two TV stations. Susanne wasn't even there yet and they were already walking across the tarmac. I called her: "Susanne, don't even worry about coming down here. They're already here. And nobody's here, so we feel really awkward. We can't even cheer because there aren't enough people - OH MY GOD - GO THUNDER! WOOOOO! GO THUNDER! WOOOOOOOOOOO! Seriously, it's really awkward and they'll be gone by the time you're here."
The Thunder just came home after two losses in Los Angeles, so they were not in the mood to walk all the way over to meet four weirdo stalkers. So we got back in the car and made a plan!
All the players were leaving through the same gate, so I asked Carrie Dean to take me over to a parking lot facing the road. We would wait there, I decided, until James Harden drove by in his amazing SUV.
"What exactly are you going to do?" Carrie Dean asked.
"I don't know!"
She suggested maybe I make a plan. Oh, the voice of reason. But there wasn't time because he drove right past us. I screamed and waved frantically with both hands like I was an old lady who just won at the bingo hall. He kind of half waved and then looked a little concerned. I'm sure he was wondering what this psycho was doing. Then I realized I was yelling inside the car. He couldn't hear me. So I jumped out of the car, forgetting my crutches, which are a little necessary. It hurt but I didn't care.
"OH MY GOD YOU'RE MY FAVORITE WILL YOU TAKE A PICTURE WITH ME YOU ARE MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!!"
I put spaces between those words to make it easier to read. It was more than a run-on sentence. It was a run-on word.
He smiled and then pulled over. He actually pulled over! Imagine a player from any other team doing that. No way. That's why I love the Thunder so much. They're all actually nice people, unlike some NBA players. So this is how the conversation went down:
Me (frantic, breathless): "Oh my god - thank you so much! You are my absolute favorite player. Can I take a picture with you?"
James Harden (calm, normal): "No prob. Oh - what happened to you?" (points at my crutches)
Me (feeling a little like a badass): "Oh, I tore my ACL playing soccer."
James Harden (genuine, nice): "Oh shoot! Do you have to have surgery."
Me (awkward, nervous): "Yeah, later this summer."
At this point, we turn to take the picture. He puts his arm over my shoulder and I put my arm around his waist and realize that if I was any shorter, I would have put my arm accidentally around his butt. Then I really would have looked like a stalker.
Me (terrified that if I linger to long it will get even more awkward): "Thank you so much for taking a picture with me. You are my absolutely favorite."
James Harden (unfazed by my weirdness): "No problem. Get well!"
Me (awed): "Thanks!"
James Harden (acting normal): "Oh yeah - I like your shirt!"
Me (girly, giddy): "Thank you!"
That's when we parted ways - me to tell the story to every person I meet, him to go on with his life as normal.
Mia had her first ice cream cone the other day. (She had ice cream for the first time when we visited Tanya in Eureka Springs, but this time it was in a cone.) Let's just say it's hilarious. There was no spoon and it was more like headbutting than eating the ice cream. She loved it!
Apparently she has heartburn. Don't worry - it was a child-proof bottle, people! And we won't encourage her to crawl to medicine in the future! Here's a view from above:
So we decided maybe she should just hang out with Grandma Peggy, which made her much happier.
Then we took Mia for a checkup. She's super healthy, as always, so that's great to hear. She tried to make a break for it at on the exam table. She loves that crinkly paper.
It was Mia's first time to watch me play. OK, so she wasn't really watching. She was touching Clay's iPhone. Nevertheless, I was sad that she had to be around her crying mama. She was even wearing her Fighting Chick shirt in honor of our team, the Fighting Chickens. (This picture is of her at two weeks. Now she actually fits in the shirt and is still adorable.)
Yes, that is a white minivan with attachments that make it look like the shuttle. Unlike the guy on the bike, we actually made a u-turn to document this weirdness. And in case you wonder where you'd park something that amazing, we took a picture of that, too: 
I don't know if you can read it, but that sign on the garage says "Not NASA." Thank god we clarified. It's hard to tell the difference between the world's greatest space agency and a trailer in the middle of the Arkansas woods.
Then we passed a Mercedes graveyard. There were a dozen rusted old Mercedes covered in leaves behind a row of trees. We didn't make a u-turn for that one either because we were worried if we turned around every time we saw something weird, we'd never get to Eureka Springs.
We finally got to town and gave our little front carrier a try for the first time.
As usual, Mia was a total sport. The only thing she didn't like was when her hat fell too low, covering her eyes. It was kind of hard maneuvering in the bathroom when she needed a diaper change, though. I'm sure that will get better with practice. We had lunch, met up with our pal Tanya and walked through the old downtown. It was really fun! Mia survived the whole day, including two creepy encounters.
1. A very, very high hippie lady freaked out about how cute Mia is. She gave a long monologue about how important it is for people to blend together, like colors of the rainbow. She looked at Leigh and me and pointed out what features of Mia's came from each of us. I think we were the first interracial couple to go into her shop. Or maybe we were the first interracial couple to go into her shop when she was that high.
2. Some lady touched Mia's toes. I wrote a column about it here.
Here we are just before we left. 
We visited and had dinner with Tanya and her family at their cabin. It was so great to see our pal from Wisconsin! We were really happy Mia got to meet her.
