That one time I met Hines Ward... :)

Oh gosh, where to begin?

How about we start from the very beginning?

It's Tuesday morning, I'm sitting in my office playing around on the internet before anyone else is here, when I see this...

You see, last year when he came to Charlotte I was out of town in Alaska with my dad. So I missed him and was heartbroken!

That wasn't about to happen this time. Charlotte is only a short drive from Raleigh and I was determined to make this happen. I immediately text my cousin (in Pittsburgh) and ask if she wants to fly down for the weekend just to see Hines. Unfortunately she has to work and can't make the last minute trip. So next I write this on Hillary's facebook wall...

After some texting back and forth, Hillary and I decided hey...what the heck? Let's go! We got two tickets for his autograph (happy early birthday present to me!) and a hotel and there was no looking back.

I was ECSTATIC. As you can tell from our conversation above. Hillary was equally excited too, as you can see. (She really could care less about the Steelers or the NFL for that matter...)

Friday afternoon rolls around and we hop in the car and head on out to Charlotte! We had only been once for the bowl game, so decided to head down the night before so we could explore downtown a bit. I really liked the city! It was super clean, and the atmosphere was really neat.

After an interesting night out (no need to get into details about that) we woke up bright and early to get ready to meet HINES!!

Hines Ward (and some other Steelers players, can't leave them out!) were signing autographs at the mall in Charlotte. The mall opened at 10am and Steelers would be there at 1pm and 3pm. Hines was scheduled to be there at 1pm. So what do Hillary and I do? We get there before the mall even opens because we were just so uber duber excited (aka: paranoid about long lines).

There were absolutely zero lines. I don't know what I was thinking, but I was super far off...

We walk into the mall, head to the area all set up for Hines, and wait. Lots and lots of waiting. At 10:00 we're able to get up and turn in our paper receipts for real tickets. So I do that. Then I sit back down and wait and wait some more.

We even recorded a video but I won't bother to waste your time with that :)

After about 2 hours of waiting (in comfy chairs!) we decide to go ahead and get in line, where we can wait another hour and a half for Hines. We were the third people in line for Hines which was pretty sweet, especially because eventually the line filled up pretty fast. Unfortunately they had a separate line for "VIP" people who bought tickets to get autographs from all of the players, and they got to go first so we had to do even more waiting once Hines actually arrived. But whatever...I'll do as much waiting as I need to if it means that he's just a few feet away :)

Around 1:15 Hines Ward finally showed his pretty smile and I was completely THRILLED! I was shaking, I felt like I was going to throw up, I was nervous and excited all wrapped up into one. It was such a huge adrenaline rush!

All of our waiting finally paid off and we inched our way up to Hines Ward...

But first, we passed Mike Wallace along the way :)

And then.....

"Hey, I'm Brittany!"
"Nice to meet you Brittany!"
...aaaaaaaaaaaaah, I'm dying.

Our conversation could have ended right there and I would have died a happy girl. But it didn't, it only got better...

So here I am, standing in front of Hines Ward with my two things that I want signed and I just start talking away. I never talk that much! But apparently nervous Brittany just can't control it. He's signing away and I'm talking to him about everything under the sun...my last name (it's relevant), Pittsburgh, my bamie, my family and how they love him, if he's having a good day or not, Raleigh....etc. Way to go, Brittany. I mean, I was just trying to keep the conversation going....he was surprisingly quiet...

Our time is nearing an end so we both turn to Hillary (who has been snapping off pictures left and right, she's amazing!) for a posed picture together. I lean over the table, he leans in, and I notice that his hands are kind of overlapping each other and you can't really see his Super Bowl ring. Not acceptable! So I say...."Gotta be sure to show off that ring!" and he responds... "Well why don't you wear it?" WHAAAT?! The only way I know how to truly describe this situation: ASLKGJSLKGJALKGJA!!!!!! :) :) :) That's basically what happened. I was stumbling over my words, trying to put this MASSIVE ring on, while on the verge of crying big fat happy tears! I was in complete shock! I mean, I won't lie...the thought crossed my mind while I was in line waiting - maybe I'll ask to wear his ring! ...no way, Brittany, he would never let that happen, that this is worth more than everything I've ever owned combined! - Oh but it happened. And it was wonderful :)

After uttering out a big huge thank you, I was finally forced to leave the wonderful moment and head home, back to reality.

But my heart is left feeling super happy and my week life has been made significantly better :)

And that's the story of the greatest day of my life!

Happy FRIDAY!! 

Stay cool this weekend...

B.Hines