My dad was a huge football fan, specifically for the CSU Rams (as he played for them) or the Denver Broncos. My earliest memories of my father are sitting next to him, me in the little yellow rocking chair, him in the big chair, watching the football game on a television with crappy reception.

When I got older, he had tickets to the games he shared with some other guys from our town. They would trade-off, and when our name came up, dad would either take myself or my little brother, and if the other two tickets came up, we'd go as a family. On one occasion, I remember leaving the stadium, my dad leading the way and me holding his hand. Someone from our left got back and someone to our right, jumped between us and I got lost in the crowd. I saw my dad push, shove, yell and force his way back to me. I don't remember the words he said to those men, but I'm sure they weren't pretty.

But back to football ... my dad loved the Broncos. He died before Elway could bring a Super Bowl to fruition. He never stopped cheering. And we spent every Sunday afternoon in the basement watching the Broncos.

My husband and I were invited to a gala this past week. It was to honor a former Denver Bronco player who had made it his mission to make sure alumni of the Broncos (and everyone else) knew about heart disease. I was really looking forward to it, and told our friend that planned the shebang, that I'd love to meet this player. She said she'd make sure it happened.

As my husband and I were standing around, enjoying a glass of wine during the "go bid on the silent auction and spend a lot of money", she came up and said, "We've put you at our table, so we'll get a chance to chat more". We went up to the table, put down our placecards, and waited.

We were wondering who would be at our table, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was this player! He introduced himself to us, and said he looked forward to eating with us.

WHOA! Eating with us??

I realize what table she has put us at. I realize I'm sitting across from one of football's greats, and someone my dad loved watching play. I was a bit star struck. He was talking about games he'd played in, how he thought the Broncos would do this year, his opinion of the Raiders team now, among other things. I just listened. I was truly in awe.

An older gentleman sat down next to me, introduced himself and his wife. We did the introductions among ourselves, and about, oh, three minutes into it, I realize I'm sitting next to Coach Red Miller. (he was the Broncos coach before they brought in Dan Reeves) He was extremely wonderful. His wife was lovely. Again, I sat back and listened.

And then, I got a bit teary-eyed. I thought to myself how incredible it would have been to be able to have called my dad and told him who I'd met. More importantly, to have invited him along to this banquet. We bumped elbows with Billy Thompson, Haven Moses, Doug Widdel, Coach Miller, among others.

My dad would have been over the moon.

It was about then that I looked around the table. I thought back to my dad's funeral twelve years ago and how my mom insisted we leave one empty seat 'for my dad'. It was the only empty seat left in the gymnasium.

The night of the gala, we an extra seat at our table, and the last empty one in the room. I saw my dad sitting there, listening, laughing, and loving.

It was fantastic.