The Hometown Treasure January 2012 | Page 31

Foundation. From there they drove to Keystone RV to pick up Aaron’s father David. Becky said that not only was this a special day for Aaron, it was also a special day for David; it was his 40th birthday. David said “Not many people can say that on their 40th birthday they got to go and shake Peyton Manning’s hand.” Upon arriving in Indy, the family had a meet and greet with Manning, where he posed for pictures with Aaron and his brother and signed a football for Aaron. When Aaron got to meet Manning and shake his hand, Aaron was happy and excited and a little overwhelmed at his wish coming true. His parents reported that he had a huge smile on his face when he met his favorite Colts player. Aaron even got to hold the Superbowl XLI trophy. From there they went to watch the Colts practice. Aaron said that watching them practice was “Cool.” When they were done practicing, most of the players and the coach and Vice President of the Colts came over to meet Aaron and his family. “They were super nice. There were like 25-30 people there, all of them went down on their knees, and they would shake their hands, rub their heads and give them a hug.” Said David. It was overwhelming for the family to have them all come at them at once, but it was a neat experience. Becky remembered another experience from meeting the players, “#96, Tyler Brayton, took off his gloves and they were all sweaty and said do you want a glove? And he pitched one to Aaron and the other to Joshua. A few of them signed those too.” Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark, two more favorite players of Aaron’s also signed the gloves. Aaron’s favorite part was “Meeting the players.” He received several keepsakes from the Colts, most of which were signed by some members of the team. These items included the gloves, a hat, football, yearbook, and poster. His favorite was the signed football from Manning. When he went back to school, he took these signed items in to show his classmates. The whole family agreed that it was a great and positive experience. Aaron (right) and Joshua (left) meet Peyton Manning. Hometown Treasure photo The Hometown Treasure · Jan. ‘12 · pg 29