Husky at Heart!

Even thought #22 looks like a badass, he actually really likes coleslaw and has great table manners.

From what I can tell, when you get cancer, especially if you're a little kid, people like to give you STUFF. A lot of times it's free tickets, sometimes it's free stuffed animals (since we know those are so hard to come by), ugly hats are a popular choice, plus bandanas that had been sitting at the bottom of the barrel in the Michael's clearance section since last Christmas. And there's a lot of wonderful gifts that come along, but in the end, stuff if stuff.

But tonight, my friends, the kids who are staying at the Ronald McDonald House while their families face serious medical situations had an EXPERIENCE. A fun one. The University of Washington Men's Basketball team came to eat dinner! And I was there, cooking up a storm! And then I chatted up a storm, because who wants a bunch of awkward 18-year-old boys to stand around in their 7 foot glory and scare small children with their awkwardness? Not me. So I sat down, the 5'4" blonde girl with an entire table of African American, NBA-dreaming college students, to pick their brains about the rain in Seattle (hard to adjust to, according to the boys from San Diego, Watts, and you know, Senegal!!!), which majors would never work for a basketball player: science and engineering, for sure, and what they thought of the House.

"I've never been here before, but I am definitely coming back y'all!" Too cute.

We had a mini photoshoot (HP should sponsor us with the amount of color ink we have been using lately), let kids decorate cardstock picture frames and got tons of autographs. There were t-shirts and basketballs and some good natured ribbing, but my favorite part was seeing those boys, the ones who land on SportsCenter all the time, the ones who came from all around the world, not necessarily thinking college education was in their stars, realizing the influence and privilege of their position. I'm hoping they liked it enough to warrant a free few tickets for me this season. :)