Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Mark My Words…

Hello fan(s)!

You’ll have to forgive me. Since I continue to see Derek Jeter in my dreams every night, I completely forgot that baseball season has ended! But as the calendar has turned over into a new year, and now that Derek and I are fully recovered from our orthopedic injuries (file that one in the ‘Things Gina and Jeter have in common’ folder…..which hopefully one day willllll… include our last name *sigh*), it is time to recall one of the most amazing moments of last season… and of our lives: the day we met Mark Teixeira!



It was almost one year to the day prior to this that we featured Mark in our blog and even mentioned how we donated to his foundation in hopes of winning the contest where you get to spend a day at Yankee Stadium staring at his gorgeous face and eyes and butt and arms and freshly showered hair…. Oh my! (See: We Heart You, Mark Teixeira). But honestly, I never thought we would have a chance to actually win this thing… and guess what?? We did!

As I was finishing a long day at one of my mental health facility clients – a day so long that I was about to join one of their group therapy sessions across the hall – I got a call from the foundation saying that Mark selected ME to join HIM at the Stadium to get married…..I mean, for a game and dinner. Now, of course, I thought they were calling because my credit card got declined because, perhaps, Dana maxed it out on concert tickets or something, but it was actually good news! And to think… just a year before, while Dana and I were discussing ridiculous Yankees-related scenarios (which only happens on days that end in “y”), we promised each other that when this fateful day actually happened, we would take each other…obvi!



So, Dana and I arrived at the Stadium and were treated like royalty… except for when they couldn’t find a wheelchair for me in that whole giant place (If you remember, I broke my foot one week after getting the awesome news that I won…ugh!). Anyway, I was eventually wheeled onto the field where my name was called over the loud speaker and I got to meet Mark for the first time…a dream come true! Though in my dream, I was probably walking on both feet and making outttt----standing conversation with him… ahem. Swear to God though – so glad I had those crutches because my legs were like two sticks of melting butter when I saw his smiling face! And even though he doesn’t know this, Jeter was glad I couldn’t walk too because when I was down on the field, and he was just feet away from me in the dugout – on any other day, I would have run over to him and behaved in a way that would have most definitely qualified as sexual harassment… but no! The one day Jeter and I are walking on the same dirt, breathing the same air… I’m disabled!!

After that, we watched the game from Delta’s luxury box, ate like pigs, and Dana even won a free flight for winning a trivia game… we were winning like the ’98 Yanks… could this get any better, you ask?? Why yes! Long story short, we weren’t able to go on the tour since I couldn’t walk, so we waited in the restaurant for the group to come back, and who walks in but….Tex himself! Dana flagged him down like a crack-head on Chapel St. flagging down a bus, and before we knew it, we were chatting it up with the one and only, sickeningly beautiful Mark Teixeira! We chewed the fat for a few…over things like our injuries and living in Connecticut…it was magical, a religious experience, a blessing in disguise if you will… (Amen!) And the way we handled ourselves was so surprising to me…cool as ice. Usually the only thing cool about us in the presence of Yankees is the cold sweat dripping from our temples and palms!



The afternoon continued on with a romantic dinner where Dana, me, and Mark (and like 20 other people…but forget them for right now) ate steak and watched the sunset from inside Yankee Stadium. Mark was amazing – staring straight into our eyes as he listened to our stories and responses to his questions. And while I was telling him how awesome he is that he is such an inspiration to us, Dana was taking paparazzi photos/videos and yelling at him about how he has perfectly fit into her obsession with first basemen (#23 - Donnie...#24 - Tino….#25 - Tex…an OCD-ers dream!!). We all have our roles.



Our only disappointment is that we didn’t get to take a picture with him by ourselves…or maybe sneak in a little hug. Can you imagine being alone with him…pressed up against his warm body …AND all of that being consensual? I can…I do! How do we win THAT contest?

Love,
g