World Cup 17: The last day

So, the time is 4:59am and we're up loading the vans with our luggage. We'll be leaving for the airport in about a half hour. So I'll try and get a little in, but I'll definitely have to save the last post with the impact of this trip till I have more time.

The jersey ceremony on Saturday night was great. Anne McClain sent us the flag from her first combat mission in Iraq and that was the flag we used duringthe presentation. Anne was originally on the team a few years back, but then got deployed to Iraq and couldn't be here or come support. It was really awesome to feel that support from across the globe. After the jersey ceremony we had a short presentation to do gifts and such then it was crazy packing time and more rampant trading. We were all trying to get everything ready to go and get our stuff that has reproduced back into it's respective containers.

Yesterday just flew by. It was breakfast one moment and then we were on the pitch playing. It's was a beautiful game. We just worked so well together and the final score of 24-0 reflected that. Our scrums were on, our backs were on, everything just... I can't even think of a word for how much fun that game was.

Then we showered (there was no way in hell I was getting in the ce bath) and had our post match function with Scotland. Then we went down to watch the rest of the matches. France beat Canada and New Zealand beat England in a fiercly fought battle. I got to just hang out with my mom and John and the rest of my team. We also got to watch Dude and Jen get married during the day. They decided to do it in Canada because gay marriage is official and legal there. It was great to get to be there with them for that.


After the games it was the blitzkrieg of showering, trying to cram a few more things in bags, and then off to the official post tournament dinner. It was a zoo of activity with everyone wandering around trying to see what they could swap for. My best acqusition was a training jersey from france that I got for my technical tee. They also announced a World 15 and Jen was selected as the number 5. I am really proud of her (and Phaidra who got 6 and Ellie who got 11, too).

After the function we came back to the hotel and got changed into our going out attire and went over to the Lion's Head to party it up. We were there with South Africa, Australia, Ireland, and England. It was a lot of fun and then we wandered off to another place called Overtime for a bit before I threw in the towel and came back to get an hour and a half of sleep.

Now I'm up and packed and ready to begin the marathon travel day home. I'll write one more World CUp post when I get back and add pictures to this post, but for now... Goodbye Edmonton!