Coastal Credit Makes a Special Moment Possible
My family and I were guests of Coastal Credit for Austin Da Luz’s last game.
Y’all as I sit here writing this, my eyes are filled with tears and I have a sense of sadness surrounding me. It is not like anyone has died but it is an end of an era. One of my favorite people in the world, one I admire, the biggest leap of faith I took after starting this blog, Austin Da Luz, an NCFC player retired. For those that have been around for a long time, you have read my many blog posts about him.
We were season ticket holders to the soccer games for many years, and in fact, at the beginning of the year, we had actually renewed our tickets. But time constraints, our daughter’s wedding, and health issues led us to cancel the season tickets. It just wasn’t in the cards to have the tickets. So we gladly were given a refund. But if I had known that Austin would be retiring this year, I think we would have found a way to keep them. But alas it wasn’t in the cards. As soon as I heard Austin was retiring, I knew I had to be in the stadium for his last game. And that is where Coastal Federal Credit Union came to our rescue.
You may remember a year ago, my middle daughter and I were treated to field seats for an NC Courage game ( the sister team to NCFC) and this summer I was given two tickets to attend a concert at their music park. So I knew that Coastal Credit Union would be the perfect place to team up with for this story. And guess what they were!!!
My anticipation set in as the week of the game approached, but looking at the weather forecast, I was actually contemplating not going to the game. It called for major rainstorms. I silently said prayers all week for it not to rain and left it in God’s hands. I knew that if it was meant to be that we would be in the stadium that night. The day of the game, I worked at the farm and got off early- rain was still the forecast but not as much like it was during the week. I took a deep breath and said let’s go. We piled into the blog car, the Malibu, which by the way we just recently obtained back in May. ( Have you noticed that good things always happen at the end of April and the end of May for me.) and made the hour drive to the stadium.
The Malibu who by the way is financed through Coastal. It has been my dream car for sure. I never really wanted a car because I was always an SUV or a van person, but this car has made me rethink that. I am in love it. So back to the story, we drove to Raleigh in the car that Coastal financed preparing to see a very special event with tickets that Coastal also provided for us. All I could think that day was how lucky we were to get this chance.
We got to the game after the players had warmed up. Which honestly, I was a little upset because I like to get to the game early and watch the players warm-up. We weren’t in our seats long before the game started.
My eyes filled with tears as I saw all the NCFC starting players wearing #6 on their jerseys as they emerged from the tunnel to take the field. It was truly a beautiful moment. One that brought tears to my eyes for sure.
As the game progressed, I waited. I waited for the moment that they would substitute another player in for #6 Austin Da Luz. And they did with 3 minutes left in regulation, Austin walked off the field at Wake Med Soccer Park, to a standing ovation for all of those in attendance. It only seemed fitting that the person who was taking his spot on the field was a younger player who we have come to love, Nazmi Albadawi. So fitting for sure.
We hung around after the game waiting for that one moment, the moment that Coastal made possible, for me to say Thank you to a person I not only admired on the field but off the field as well. I didn’t think that the moment would happen because he had spent a lot of time on the other side of the stadium. But it did happen, I got to congratulate him on an amazing career and with a quick hug told him to thank you for being a class act and that I would miss seeing him play.
Thank you Coastal Credit for making it possible for me to be there for that moment when he stepped off the field. You will forever hold a place in my heart not just because of the financing of the car that bought us to the game but also very so generously allowing us to be in attendance.
