Heavy Medal

Today was kind of amazing.  Jaia got to meet Melissa Tancredi, one of the members of the bronze medal winning Canadian Women’s soccer team.  (The awesomely tiny Diana Matheson and the hilarious Erin McLeod were there too, but we didn’t get a chance to meet them).

I don’t think she understood the magnitude of the opportunity.  Was she excited?  Yes.  Did she know who the players were?  Sort of.  I talked a lot about them and watched soccer during the Olympics so she was well aware.  But quite frankly, it could have been the Team Canada bus driver sitting in front of that crowd and she would have been excited to go.  It was something different, so it was cool.

But she plays soccer and loves playing soccer, so meeting a grown up soccer player was pretty rad.

She thought ahead and brought her soccer ball and a Sharpie.  She sat down in front and immediately wanted my camera.  She patiently waited in line.  And when she got to the table, she acted like an old pro, deciding that the soccer ball was not good enough and tore off her jersey and asked her to sign that instead.

Oh yeah, and instead of just posing with her, Tancredi picked Jaia up and let her hold the medal.  You know, no big deal.

These ladies were awesome.  Classy, talented and hilarious.  If you hear that they are heading to your town, stop in and say hello.