Future Wildcat

As any good K-State alums, my husband and I still travel back to Manhattan in the fall to cheer on the K-State football team. Not only do we own a sizable wardrobe of royal purple and white shirts and hats, but little man also has an equally sizable collection of K-State wear.

As much as I like football games, for me, the weekends are enjoyable for the tailgating, the people and the chance to just get out of town for a few days. When the weather is bad (which there are always a few miserably cold/rainy game days a year) I usually send the husband to the game with his dad, leaving me and little man to enjoy the warmth and dryness inside. (Litte man always stays behind to spend the afternoon with Grammy Jo, regardless.)

However, this was not the case this past weekend. Despite the cool temperature and wet, wet, WET weather I endured Mother Nature's first taste of fall weather for nearly three hours. And it wasn't because the game happened to be a good one -- it was crystal clear who was going to win the game early on. I stayed because of little man.

Each year during a break in the game the wonderful folks running the jumbotron feature a slideshow of "Future Wildcats." And each year, by the time I go to the Web site to enter little man's picture, they already have all the pictures they need for the year.

But not this year. I made sure I got in early and sure enough, little man made the cut.

So, last weekend in K-State vs. Montana State, little man was scheduled to appear on the jumbotron, larger than life.

It was also, quite possibly, the worst weekend of the year.

The temps were cool and there was an almost constant drizzle ... not a heavy rain, but a slow, gentle, soaking rain. Just enough to soak you, your hair and your fuzzy K-State sweatshirt. It was a day when I usually would have passed on my ticket and sent the husband to the game with his dad.

But, I couldn't miss little man's big moment.

And so I sat, in my plastic purple poncho. The first quarter was exciting enough, but by the second quarter that excitement was definitely gone. I even sat in the rain through the halftime show, which featured high school marching bands from across the state. Finally, the third quarter came. The quarter in which the "Future Wildcats" would be on display.

And then it came ...

I jumped to my feet and cheered. The crowd around me must have thought for sure I had lost it. My mother-in-law, who also only endured the weather for this big moment, cheered with me. At least I wasn't the only crazy jumping mother in the stands at that moment. I'm sure my husband and father-in-law also clapped, however I was caught in the moment of my little man on the BIG screen.

And then he was gone and another Future Wildcat took to the jumbotron. I'm sure somewhere in the stands another crazy mother jumped to her feet, clapping.

My mother-in-law and I looked at each other.

"You ready?" I asked her.

"Yes, let's GO" she replied.

And so we left Bill Snyder Family Stadium and it's wet drizzle behind. We had seen what we had come for - little man on the BIG screen. Oh, and the Wildcats win, too, of course.