Thursday, January 22, 2009

Touched by a Tiger.

Tonight we attended our first Lady Chiefs game of the season. It was a GREAT one. The girls played great and were so much fun to watch. I don't remember the score other than the fact that it was in our favor. What I will never forget was walking in and seeing a box on the table next to the nice lady taking money. They were collecting donations for the Stephanie Phillips Foundation. As I approached my dad who was at the concession stand I noticed there was another box sitting there. If that wasn't enough, the nice announcer man came on at half-time and said that the Freshman Lady Tigers would be passing the boxes around and urged everyone to put their spare change and dollars into the box. I sat and watched the girls go around and beg for money and I couldn't help but tear up. How sweet it was to see these girls put competition aside for the sake of a fellow member of this tight knit community. Brian and I had to chuckle when they played the song, "Man, I Feel Like A Woman" by Shania Twain while they were collecting the cash. If you know Steph, you know why it's funny. After the game they presented Steph with almost $700. I was doing just fine until Steph turned around with tears in her eyes. It gets me every time. As we were driving home I told Brian, "If you would have told me 10 years ago that Steph would stand in front of a crowd after a game and cry...I would have told you that you were out of your mind." But I guess that's what happens when you are touched by a tiger.

Thank you Lady Tigers...from the bottom of our little Chief hearts.

**On a lighter note**
We were walking into the Ozark gym and I said, "Claire, you will probably go to school here someday." She perked up and said, "And be a Lady Chief?!" Oh dear.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I have tears.....what a touching story for our dear Steph. Thanks for sharing the tenderness of it all. :)
xoxoxo
Kathy