Sunday, October 24, 2010

I gambled and lost

The chance of rain on Saturday was 50%. The chance of my alma mater moving forward with the LARGEST HOMECOMING PARADE IN HISTORY was 100%. The chance that three littles would be crushed if we didn't attend...well, I didn't even want to gamble with that one. Especially since Micah pronounced his undying love for Baylor Homecoming just the day before.

But Jason was out of town (See how carefully I guarded that secret by not posting until he returned? But he's home now. And he packs heat, so back off!), so it was just going to be the children and me.

Me. With three children. One of whom inevitably has to go to the bathroom, but none of whom I can trust to go alone. In a crowded outdoor area. Where you cannot leave your spot for ANY REASON WHATSOEVER or risk it being invaded by sugar-crazed children desperate to sacrifice life and limb for an oversized Tootsie Roll or a 2-pack of SweetTarts because their parents likely graduated from this universit.........

So you understand my predicament.

Whether it was lack of sleep (I tend not to sleep well when Jason isn't home. And by "not sleep well", I mean stay up with all the lights on until my eyes refuse to remain open a single millisecond longer) or a full-on attack of allergy symptoms that caused me to lose my mind, we'll never know. But I packed a container of cinnamon rolls, 3 thermoses full of drinks, 2 Nintendo DSs to pass the time, 1 camp chair for mamaw because my backside can't take the concrete, 1 Diet Pepsi for fuel, and a partridge in a pair tree, loaded up the van and we moved to Beverly.

And I thought, "If it starts raining, we'll just leave."

I believe the phrase you are looking for is, "Famous last words."

Since my brilliant rain plan was "just leave," I didn't see the use in packing any jackets. Or even an umbrella.

It turns out that there's a 0% chance of being able to "just leave" when you're on the opposite side of the parade route from where you parked your grocery-getter. And you're surrounded by thousands of spectators, not to mention that the other side of the parade route is about 10 families deep. And you have 3 littles, a large bag, and a camp chair in tow. No matter how spectacular the parade floats, we definitely would have been the bigger spectacle.

My stories are soooo predictable.

We reached our usual spot on campus about 8:00. The parade started in downtown at 8:30, but wasn't expected to reach campus until close to 9:00 (thus, the reason for the DSs). The skies were still cloudy, but the rain appeared to be holding off. As though God himself looked down upon our little celebration and held back the rain.

Then the swing dancers on campus of a Baptist University must have really ticked him off because it wasn't long before I felt a few sprinkles.

"It's only sprinkling," I thought wishfully.

And then it began to rain in earnest. But in the spirit of Homecoming, brotherhood, and all that jazz, the nice couple behind me moved forward just enough to cover me with their oversized golf umbrella. So I will forgive the husband for being Overly Obvious Commentary Man.

(Dude, we all have the same parade program as you. And we graduated from a fairly scholarly university, so I'm pretty sure our reading skills allow us to comprehend the written line-up. But if we can't follow the line-up, each entry/float is clearly labeled, so there's little opportunity for suspense. Thanks for your assistance, though.)

Piper made friends with the prepared-like-a-girl-scout college freshman (I know she was a freshman by the singular fact that she had no idea from which direction the parade would be coming) sitting next to us and promptly situated herself squarely in the unsuspecting girl's lap under the protection of the girl's umbrella.

The good news is I have a new babysitter.

The boys alternated between squeezing under our portion of borrowed rain cover and diving for subpar candy.

Thankfully the rain didn't last long. I'm guessing the swing dancers came to the end of the parade route.

My pants legs were a little damp, but in the end none of us were any worse for the wear. I wish that we had been able to go to the game, since Baylor won and is now bowl-eligible for the first time in 15 years!

Despite the rain and my rare form of genius, it was a great weekend for sports! The Rangers are going to the World Series! The Bears are eligible to play in a bowl game! The Hogs won (that's for you, mom)!

Here's hoping your week (and mine too!) is also full of wins! And well-laid plans. And dry pants legs.





3 comments:

  1. Heh, great story! Yes, famous last words.

    And, I just gotta say, GO MIZZOU!! SUCK IT SOONERS!!!

    whew, that felt good.

    ReplyDelete
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  3. You should join me (and my vast family and many friends) at our non-crowded spot in downtown Waco. 5 familes with 11 children ages 9 and under. You would have fit in well. And, the parade finished where we were well before the rain hit.

    ReplyDelete

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