As one of my friends said, I've been a Seahawk fan for at least the last three games. But never mind, we're all welcome on this bandwagon.

For the game against San Francisco, we had one other family over. We all snuggled up in our small t.v. room while I managed to keep three conversations going on at once: I'm yelling at the t.v. the way my family, great Husky fans, taught me to do; I'm explaining the rules of the game to Rose, who has never watched a football game in her life; and I'm asking David to tell me who the players are since he's been watching with Daddy and talking football with his buddies all the time. John, meanwhile is actually trying to hear the announcers--different football watching cultures had a slight collide.

We muted the t.v. for the ads and then had a great time guessing what they were for. At half-time we made the kids run around outside and then had a long dinner break. That worked great because we came back and just zoomed through the ads. The game, as you all know, was very close and very exciting.

For the Superbowl, we moved the t.v. into the living room and had 14 of us. It took awhile to figure out to configure the chairs, but with several rows and cushions, we got it. We also made bingo cards for the ads and didn't bother to sit for dinner. We just put out the sandwich fixings of your choice and kept watching the blow out. John gave up trying to hear the announcers, and we were all in very good moods.

After the game, we made the kids go out in the cold and yell. They didn't quite get that this was a community event, and you didn't huddle in your isolated house; you shared your joy with the world. They got it better when they heard everyone else yelling and saw the fireworks.

I did not go to the Sonics parade in '79, and I don't regret it. I felt privileged enough to have gone to the band room during silent reading time and watched it on t.v. But I wanted to have an adventure. I wanted to join 700,000 other Seattlites in celebration. So, we pulled the kids from school, warning them that this was an adventure, and sometimes adventures are duds.

It was definitely an adventure. The parade was supposed to start at 11:00. Four mommies and eight kids set out at 9:15 to catch the bus. The first bus passed up by--too full. The second bus--no room. We tried to call a taxi--no way. So, we piled into two cars and went up the hill to try a different bus. Nope and nope. David had a melt down, crying and saying he just wanted to go to school. Not on my watch. We piled back in the cars and drove to Queen Anne. And from there, the cold, but sunny weather, we walked a mile downhill to the start of the parade and got there by 10:45.

We had planned to be at the beginning of the route and we had no desire to push to get any closer. We actually ended up in a great location: the loading area. It wasn't too crowded, everyone was very friendly and did not shove or crowd us, the kids wandered off to explore and eventually came back. Eventually, I got a good view of the seagals and the several quick views of the players--not that I actually recognized most of them. And by 12:15, it was done.

Even though, we had lunch good with us, I suggested we go up to the Armory, get warm and supplement. By some miracle, we were the first ones there and no lines. It soon filled up, and it was fun to be in a room with everyone wearing the same colors, everyone there for the same happy reason. And that's how I've felt about the last few weeks in Seattle.