Fourth quarter, Clover watching in the rain
Stanford won! Two years ago Stanford last hosted the Big Game on Clover's birthday, only to lose in a heart-breaker. Clover cried. It was awful. This time the sky cried. It began raining just before the teams took the field, not letting up, not even for a few minutes. Thankfully we wore snow jackets, even if Clover resisted wearing hers because it was blue (one of Cal's colors) until I forced her to put it on. Our faces and hands were numb, but Clover would not leave until the game was over and the celebration began. The kid is a gamer. She didn't complain about the rain once, and even though I reminded her that we could leave at any time, she always responded, "I'm not leaving until the end."
From the team walk, where I held Clover up to see the team and band walk by ("Mom! Andrew Luck was right next to us!"), to the very end, when Stanford students ran onto the playing field with the axe, the No. 1 fan was there watching one of her birthday wishes come true. For that, I am grateful.
