The sharp scent of ice filled my nose and traveled down to my lungs. I breathed deeper to try and pull the smell all the way to my toes. My eyes slid shut and I listened. I listened to the roar of the crowd, the sound of music blasting around the arena, and even to the low hum of the chillers under the ice. A smile spread across my face. I had dreamt of this moment so long that it was surreal to experience it. When I was a baby, fresh from the hospital, my father would rock me to sleep while watching ice hockey games on the television. I like to think that that’s where I got my love of the sport from. For a while, like a hibernating bear, my love was dormant. But, as it inevitably does, the spring came and my love woke up, demanding to be
…show more content…
I gravitated to the Chicago Blackhawks almost as if I were drawn to them by an invisible force. My parents were not ecstatic about my choice both because there is a hockey team located closer to us in Washington D.C. and because my father was already a fan of a different team. Regardless of their opinions though, I was cemented in my decision to love the Chicago Blackhawks. That love brought me to the place in my picture. It brought me to the place I had only imagined going to. The United Center is the home of the Chicago Bulls, but more importantly it is the home of the Chicago Blackhawks. And the United Center is where I took my picture.
When my parents allowed me to sell the tickets I had gotten for me and a friend to go to a concert and use the money to help pay for a trip to Chicago, I think I cried. There is no way for me to put in words how important the Blackhawks are to me and just the idea of seeing them play on home ice brought me to tears. When I actually got to Chicago and was able to walk around the city wearing a Blackhawks jersey, I felt like I was coming home. But how I felt walking around the city, was nothing compared to what it felt like to actually go to the United Center and watch my boys play on home ice. That feeling was so strong it felt like it was going to burst through my chest and fill the entire arena with it. It was a feeling of belonging that I hadn’t ever …show more content…
They were high up and the floor was sticky with spilled beer. The stairs were steep and the people around us were loud.
I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything in world.
My picture is the view I had from my seat. What the picture couldn’t capture though was the buzz of the crowd, the chill in the air that nobody could feel because our bodies were so filled with anxiety that there wasn’t room for anything else, or the feeling of family that one hockey team could bring to almost 19,700 people.
Whenever there was a goal for the Blackhawks during the game, the United Center almost shook with the noise that the cheering fans created. During play though, the silence that filled the arena was almost as deafening as the post-goal celebration.
When I look at the picture now the sights, sounds, and feelings come rushing back to me in a tidal wave of emotions. The picture reminds me that there is a place in world where I can belong. I can belong to the crowd, to the overwhelming feelings, but most of all, I can belong to the game of
I gravitated to the Chicago Blackhawks almost as if I were drawn to them by an invisible force. My parents were not ecstatic about my choice both because there is a hockey team located closer to us in Washington D.C. and because my father was already a fan of a different team. Regardless of their opinions though, I was cemented in my decision to love the Chicago Blackhawks. That love brought me to the place in my picture. It brought me to the place I had only imagined going to. The United Center is the home of the Chicago Bulls, but more importantly it is the home of the Chicago Blackhawks. And the United Center is where I took my picture.
When my parents allowed me to sell the tickets I had gotten for me and a friend to go to a concert and use the money to help pay for a trip to Chicago, I think I cried. There is no way for me to put in words how important the Blackhawks are to me and just the idea of seeing them play on home ice brought me to tears. When I actually got to Chicago and was able to walk around the city wearing a Blackhawks jersey, I felt like I was coming home. But how I felt walking around the city, was nothing compared to what it felt like to actually go to the United Center and watch my boys play on home ice. That feeling was so strong it felt like it was going to burst through my chest and fill the entire arena with it. It was a feeling of belonging that I hadn’t ever …show more content…
They were high up and the floor was sticky with spilled beer. The stairs were steep and the people around us were loud.
I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything in world.
My picture is the view I had from my seat. What the picture couldn’t capture though was the buzz of the crowd, the chill in the air that nobody could feel because our bodies were so filled with anxiety that there wasn’t room for anything else, or the feeling of family that one hockey team could bring to almost 19,700 people.
Whenever there was a goal for the Blackhawks during the game, the United Center almost shook with the noise that the cheering fans created. During play though, the silence that filled the arena was almost as deafening as the post-goal celebration.
When I look at the picture now the sights, sounds, and feelings come rushing back to me in a tidal wave of emotions. The picture reminds me that there is a place in world where I can belong. I can belong to the crowd, to the overwhelming feelings, but most of all, I can belong to the game of