Where are these guys when I need to move furniture?

**Updated to add: This article is running in the Tampa Tribune highlighting my crazy mad addiction to social networking and my internet…MY internet, ya’ll…so, go read it and check out that cute kid in the picture.**

The kids and I…sadly no Peter…got to attend a Christmas party at the Children’s Cancer Center sponsored by the Tampa Bay Buccaneer’s defensive line.

I got one word for those guys:  GINORMOUS!

Oh, and really spectacularly nice. And so sweet with the kids. And generous with their time. And more than willing to listen to every story and meet every person there. And I can’t count apparently.

It was funny, watching these little kids’ eyes about fall out of their heads…not because of the celebrity status of these guys…but in amazement of the sheer magnitude of them.  One toddler was watching them walk by and his little head was thrown so far back so he could actually see the players that he eventually lost his balance and just went right over and WHAMP flat on his butt.

The Buc’s players hold a place in my heart because we got to meet them last summer during Peyton’s wish trip to Orlando.  Now, truly?  Buc’s training camp wasn’t really part of Peyton’s wish trip, it was Daddy’s part of the wish trip, but we all still had a blast.  Peyton got to be a Fan-Of-The-Day and after training, we got to meet every player, who stopped to say hello and sign autographs and mingle with our family.  Pete was FLOATING!

At the Christmas party, watching these enormous guys interact with all the families clamoring around them for photos and autographs brought back some serious memories of the last time I’d seen them…Peyton bald, chubby from steroids, just finishing up her radiation, and so happy.

The Christmas party saw a new little girl…a healthy little girl with a head of hair and no cancer in her body. It was awesome.

These are fighters.

Courageous warriors.

They wage a war most couldn’t.

They are the first line of defense in a fierce battle.

They give it their everything.

Bodies that take a beating in every effort to defeat their opponent.

Pain doesn’t stop them.

They get up to face it down again.

They don’t give up.

They don’t back down.

They never stop.

Sometimes they feel beaten.

They suffer losses.

The victories are that much sweeter.

Fighters.

The other guys are just football players.