SEATTLE — The OL Reign is saying goodbye to someone who meant the world.
It's a farewell to someone who changed the world.
While words don't feel like enough, they were all we had on Thursday. At times it was tough for even Megan Rapinoe to find the right ones.
Her retirement tour arrives in Seattle on Friday.
"Hopefully I can keep it together tomorrow. You can run and cry at the same time," she said.
It's Rapinoe's final regular-season home game.
She's fresh off a sendoff with the USWNT where she said goodbye to her country.
This time she's saying bye to her city.
"To have the safety and just home that I've had here has been huge for me," she said.
Rapinoe spent 11 seasons in Seattle, every season in Reign franchise history.
She was there for the early days when the team couldn't buy a win.
"I was like, 'Am I really for real going to the worst team?'" she said, reflecting on the club's inaugural season in 2012.
That was back when the Reign also couldn't buy adequate facilities or resources.
"(In) the early days of the Reign we had nothing," Head Coach Laura Harvey said. "We were always trying to fight for more. And I think we always knew the most powerful voice in the room was Pinoe."
Harvey said her relationship with Rapinoe has been life-changing.
"I was a young coach when I came here. I was 32. And I'd never lived authentically," she said, fighting back tears. "Being around someone like Rapinoe, she gives you the platform to think that you can be whatever you want."
For Rapinoe, she's taking pride in leaving the game better than she found it.
"A lot of joy. Through a lot of struggle, I think that's how we've kept our sanity is through the joy," she said.
It's that joy that will fuel Friday's farewell.
It's not a somber goodbye, but a celebration from a city that's now family.
"I've given to Seattle just as much as Seattle has given back to me," she said. "I know this is the end of my career here, but I feel like it's just the beginning in so many ways."
Watch the full one-on-one interview with Rapinoe ahead of her final game: