Nathan has been following Dana on Twitter for quite a while and noticed a few fights back that Dana would post a message that he had a certain amount of tickets to hand out to those who found him first. Usually the clues were sent out the day before the fights. Nathan had been saying for weeks that if he saw any message about giving out tickets that he would mad dash to Memphis right then and there.
The hours following Nathan's return from the weigh-ins seemed to be a little bitter sweet. For me, I thought it was super sweet that he got to go and had such a good time, but I was slightly bitter that I didn't get to enjoy it, too. Nathan was kind of bummed that he left Memphis without at least trying to get tickets, but he kept a close eye on Dana White's Twitter anyway.
Saturday came and there were still no "tweets" about tickets. Nathan took Cole to karate, we had lunch, and then the kids ran off to play in their rooms. It was actually out of the ordinary for the kids to be so quiet while Nathan was home. We were watching something on TV, but Nathan couldn't stop staring at his stupid phone long enough to pay attention to anything. He has automatic alerts on his phone for all kinds of things (sports scores, emails, facebook, twitter, etc).
After many alerts of football updates, the Dana White ticket tweet he'd been waiting for finally came across at 3:28 p.m. Nathan perked up so quickly that he nearly pulled a muscle. He asked me if I would be mad if he went to Memphis. I said I would be a little bit because he needed to spend time with the kids, but I knew how badly he wanted to go. He sat there on the couch and I could tell he was trying to decide if me being aggravated with him going was worth it or not. I told him to go. He still sat there because he knew it would be a long shot since Memphis was an hour away. I could tell his mind was spinning on what to do. Once I again, I told him to go. Boy, he jumped up and ran out the door like he'd just stolen something. Uhhhh, okay.
Nathan figured Dana would be at the nicer mall in Memphis so he headed straight to it. It normally takes an hour, but he made it to Memphis in 40 minutes. Just as he was pulling into the Wolfchase parking lot another tweet came across, and that's exactly where Dana was. Nathan ran into the mall and started sprinting all through the crowd of holiday shoppers. A few other people were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, too. They realized that they were all looking for Dana and chose to split up to try and find him faster. Finally, this guy got a call from his wife that she found him in a sports memorabilia store. Nathan and that guy ran down there and then were in absolute shock at the mere sight of Dana White.
Dana White, President of the UFC
Nathan briefly stood in line, shook Dana White's hand, and then took a picture with him.UN-BE-LIEVABLE!!!
Dana looks more excited to be in the picture than Nathan. He is simply awesome to the fans.We don't care what anybody says...He is so stinkin' cool!!!
After the picture Nathan asked Dana if he had any more tickets to the fights. Dana asked him if he followed his Twitter. Of course, Nathan said yes and Dana asked him how many tickets he wanted. He had 35 left and Nathan asked if 6 was okay. They ended up giving him 8 though so they wouldn't have to split up seats. That'll do!
Nathan stayed there in the store for a few minutes just stare-bearingDana White in near disbelief of what just happened. Then he called me...
I quickly gathered from his ramblings that he met Dana White and got tickets. He was freaking out and huffing and puffing so heavily that it sounded like he was having a heart attack. I was so happy for him but disappointed at the same time. I knew I couldn't go because we don't have anyone here to watch the kids. We had already planned to go over to Justin's house to watch the fights but Justin would now for sure be watching the fights live. So that meant that I wasn't going to get to see the fights at all. Suck. Nathan then called Justin, who refused to believe Nathan until he sent pictures of Dana and the tickets, and started trying to figure out who all to give the remaining tickets to.
Justin's wife, Rachel, sent me a text about how cool this was and such. I immediately called her and before I could even finish considering asking her to watch the kids, she said she was all excited and trying to hurry to get ready and pass off their kids. What?!
I suggested bringing all of our kids and said I would deal with them if they needed to go to the bathroom or something. No deal. We hung up and my brain was scrambling to try and figure out a way to get to go, too.
Brooke was playing with her Barbies and I casually told her where Nathan was and what all had transpired. I may have exaggerated the excitement a wee bit...I forget. Much to my surprise she said that she wanted to go and see someone get their teeth knocked out. What?! Did my 6 year old little girl really just say that?! She normally gets so annoyed when the fights are on. It had to be fate. YES!!!!!!!!
Brooke ran into Cole's room and told him Daddy met Dana White (even though she has no clue who he is). Cole seriously started flipping out. He may only be 7 years old but he DOES know who that is. Then she announced that we were all going to Memphis to watch the fights. Oh my gosh, his excitement was through the roof. I called Nathan and he immediately started babbling about everything out there. I just cut him off and said that Brooke wanted to go. He was just as shocked as I was. I had to sit down because my legs were shaking with anticipation. Although, it may have been due to the fact that I was still thawing out from being in the 30 degree temps for a half hour working on the Christmas lights. Who knows.
Nathan quickly worked out a game plan to get us there while I scrambled to get us all ready. I crammed some toys into Brooke's backpack and before I knew it, Justin and Rachel were at our front door to pick us up. Sweet! We did a quick drive by at McDonald's and set out for the long, rainy trip to Memphis.
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