Finally Home

25. Samantha

Oh. My. God. I am in the FieldHouse!  We were led right out onto the court when Dad showed the guy at the door our passes.

"Sam, pick up your jaw. It's on the floor," Dad laughed.

I wrapped my arms around him.

"I know I said thank you, but thank you!" I exclaimed. Dad smiled at me.

Someone came over to us.

"Hi. You must be Sam," he said. I looked up. Kevin Love was looking at me. All six feet eight inches.

"Uh, yeah," I squeaked. "Hi."

"Hey, guys," he called out. "We gotta rookie here!"

"What? A rookie?!  Let's put the rookie through her paces!" Darius Garland said, coming over with Jarrett Allen, Ed Davis, Brandon Goodwin and the incredibly tall Moses Brown.

Dad was taking pictures as I stood, completely in awe of these men I watched on TV.

"What did you do to your foot?" Kevin asked.

"I broke it," I said.

"That much I figured. Hope it's a good story," he smiled.

"I, broke it playing basketball," I said, sheepishly.

"How?" He asked.

I explained what happened.

"Aw, that sucks!" The guys all said.

"Well, we're still gonna put you through your paces," Kevin said. "We'll just have to be a little more creative."

Dad took my jacket and my phone and pushed me towards the court.

"Go. Have fun," he said, smiling.

"Dad..." I said.  "Dad, I'm about to play basketball with Kevin Love and the Cavs!"

Dad smiled at me.

"Yes. Yes you are."

"Joseph, let's get the lead out!" Kevin said. I crutched over to him. He scrutinized me.

"You can't play dressed like that," he indicated my Cavs t-shirt.

"Why not?" I asked, confused.

"That's not standard issue. Hold on a second," he said.

He jogged off the court toward some staff people on the side. Someone handed him a white bundle of cloth.

He jogged back over to me and handed me the cloth. I unfolded it and nearly fell over. It was an official Cavs home jersey with my name on it and the number 11 on it. My jersey number at home.

"Oh. My. God," I said. "Thank you!"

"Our pleasure," he smiled. He held my crutches as I pulled the jersey over my t-shirt.

The guys played sort of slowly so that I could participate without killing myself. At one point, Moses picked me up, put me on his shoulder and walked me over to the basket. I laughed as I dropped the ball in.

"Hey! Haven't you practiced enough?" A voice came from the other side of the court. We turned around and standing there were players from the Raptors. I recognized Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet.

"Ew. And you gave her a Cavs shirt?" Kyle said.

"She's a Cavs fan, man," Kevin said. 

"Kid, here," he said tossing me a black jersey. "Rep a good team."

"I, uh, oh boy," I said. Dad was laughing.

"Let's see if you guys are any better with a girl on your team," Kyle joked.

We played again for a little longer with Raptors and Cavs alternating between giving me lifts to make "slam dunks".

Finally, they had to go get ready for the game and Dad and I had to find dinner.

I couldn't stop talking about playing basketball in the FieldHouse! With the Cavs!  Dad showed me some of the photos he took and what he'd posted to social media. He'd taken some on my phone, too. I posted a few.

"@SamJoseph: feeling so grateful for my dad setting up this incredible experience!" I posted.

I somehow managed to eat dinner despite my excitement from the afternoon and the upcoming game. Not only did we have court side seats, we were right beside the Cavaliers'' bench!

When we were done dinner, Dad and I made our way back to the arena and to our seats.

The Cavs and the Raptors were out shooting warm ups. Kevin came up to me and gave me a fist bump. So did the rest of the team. Dad and I cheered on our Cavs from our seats.

We were on the monitor at one point. They put it up as 'twentyone pilots'

"When did I join the band?" I laughed with Dad.

Dad and I watched the game and occasionally, one of the players from the Cavs bench would talk to me while he was sitting out a shift or whatever.

The game was amazing. The Cavs wound up winning 115-108, but it was close and the Raptors had an early lead. At halftime I was sure the Raptors were going to win but the Cavs turned it around in the third quarter and we're just unstoppable after that!

"For you, Josephs!" Kevin Love said at the buzzer ending the game.

We waited a little while for people to make their way out of the FieldHouse so I didn't trip myself or other people with my crutches.

I couldn't stop talking about the game, and the whole day. Dad was all smiles as we made our way back to the car.

"So," Dad said. "I did good?"

I hugged him.

"Thanks so much!" I said. "I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough for today!"

"Your smile is thanks enough," Dad said, hugging me back.

We got to the car and I took my Cavs jersey off before I got in the car. I wanted to pull on a hoodie, because it was a bit cold, but I didn't want to get fluff on my new shirt. I put it in our backpack with my new Raptors jersey.

We pulled out of the garage and started heading to the hotel.

As Dad was making a left in a green light, I saw a bright light, heard a crash and