On June 17 of this summer I was one of the top 25 students that was invited to the Father’s Day Sea Dogs game at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine. During my sixth grade year I was assigned to write a story about my father and what he does for me. My story was sent through Time Warner Cable’s Education process and educators from the state looked at my writing piece. There were two students from Greene that got acknowledged and brought through to the top 25 students of the next round. Each student that made the top 25 was given 4 tickets to the Father’s Day game at Hadlock field. The winners of the big prize would be announced at the game.

Dakota Duncan and myself, Sydney Nadeau were two of the top 25 students to get past the first round. We were given four Seadogs tickets per family. The ride to the game was really nerve-wracking. I couldn’t stop thinking about the winners and who they were. The three winners from each division, elementary, middle, and high school, would be presented a 32… plasma flat screen television set and a year of free cable from Time Warner. They would also be receiving the glass a Top Pop trophy. There was also going to be a drawing for a pair of Red Sox tickets sitting in the NESN booth.

The car parked by the bridge and my family and I stepped out of the vehicle. I was silent the whole walk to our picnic area. The Time Warner staff was incredible. Meredith, Jeff, and Lori from Q 97.9 were all there and everyone got to meet them and chat. That was the first exciting part. When everyone got to the field and sat down, Lori called all the students and their fathers up to get a gift bag. On the bag it said “Top Pop” and “Time Warner Cable”. In the gift bags were blue Time Warner Cable water bottles, CD’s, a T-shirt for the Dad’s, chopsticks, ipod speakers, a mag light flash light, like the Police use, really delicious barbecue sauce, and the gift bag was actually a backpack that you could use for the beach or to go to a baseball game. There was a snack bar at the far end of the picnicking area where there was free food for everyone. There was hamburgers, hot-dogs, coleslaw, French fries, soft drinks and plenty more.

While people were snacking Lori began calling the winners up to get their awards. The Middle School winner was Dakota Duncan from Greene Maine. The two other winners were not from around Portland. One was from Presque Isle and one was also from somewhere up in Northern Maine.

The Red Sox ticket winners were going to be announced. There were about 5 students and fathers called up. There was one more name to be chosen and my name had not yet been chosen…. “And the last winner of the Red Sox tickets are Sydney and Peter Nadeau!”

My father was looking out in the outfield watching the baseball game and I grabbed his arm. He looked at me confused like, what are you doing? I tried to pull him up to go up to get our prize, but he still seemed confused. “Dad we won the Red Sox tickets let’s go!!!” That made him get up.

There was a huge grin on our faces as we walked up to Lori. An envelope was handed to us and inside it said,” “You have been invited to the September 2nd Red Sox vs. Orioles game. You will be picked up at Time Warner Cable by limousine and brought to Fenway Park. The game starts at 2:00 p.m. Be in Portland on time!…

Waiting for September 2nd felt like waiting for your whole life for something. As weird as it may sound, the wait was worth it. The limo ride was incredible, Boston was huge and I didn’t know if I’d make it home. It was so crowded at the park. My first adventure when we got off the bus was to walk down Yawky Way. There were so many people, all there for the Sox. The booth was incredible. There was tons and tons of food, there were even couches at baseball game? They really don’t want you to miss the game. There was a flat screen in the bathroom. This place was like a house!

I want to thank Time Warner Cable and NESN for such a great day. I will never forget it. One hundred and fifty pictures will help refresh my memory!