Roadtrips, Rain, and Rainbows

Every now and then in  life you just need a change of scenery. With my love of football in mind I decided this past weekend I was headed to Charleston to see the Blue Hose take on the Citadel. Sounded like a fabulous idea at the time but had NO clue how far away it was (did a total of almost 900 miles).

So, I leave work Friday afternoon and set out to pick up my roadtrip partner Gabby (see "blondie" as per our Japanese server, or the only girl I know who loves football as much as I do) and then Chapman (see precious girl who thinks so much of her responsibilities that she refuses to skip out on work (lucky for her we were coming through)) and then be on our way.

Since it was now nearing dinner time I hop into the Subway/gas station combo to get me a sandwich for the road. Now mind you this is not the nicest exit on the highway. There is no Fatz or Hampton Inn. This is the exit that houses the people you would only see on the 6 o'clock news when a natural disaster occurs, or someone is shot or kidnapped. So I'm standing in line totally judging the people in front of me, when the couple does the oddest thing. While the cashier is ringing up their food, he hands me my bag and says "have a good evening and enjoy your sandwich!" I was floored and very confused. As I'm mumbling out words that even babies can't understand I somehow manage to ask why and he replies "just remember to do something nice for someone else sometime..." Wow!! God sure did kick me in the butt right there for being such a brat.
So once I shared this story with Gabbs and Chapman and we marveled over how there really still are good people in the world, we continued our trip and made it to Charleston with zero issues/traumas/bad things.

I got to catch up/stay with one of my best friends from childhood who, no matter how much time lapses between us, I still know I can call her up and we'll pick right back up where we left off. It was wonderful to see her and spend time with her! :)

As Gabby and I headed to the tailgate on Saturday, not only were we "strugglin" but it was hot as blue blazes. Now mind you, I checked the weather a good 39284502 times before leaving on Friday and all forecasts showed sunny around 85. That was SOOO incorrect. By 330 it was raining big time. Thank goodness some of the guys had brought a tent, but we were definitely maxing out the allowable number of people under there. So after being mad at Gabby, but then deciding going to the game was NOT a good idea, we counted to 3 and made a run for my vehicle, or at least that was the plan. As I step out from under the tent, God went "muahahaha" and dumped BUCKETS of rain right on me. It started raining harder than it had all day. And to make it worse, I turn around and Gabby and the other girls are still under the tents. Brats. We did finally all make it to the vehicle (after I picked them up almost at the tent), went and ate food that's terrible for our bodies, and watched our tigers put on a valiant fight.

As I was sitting there that evening though I remembered exactly where I was this time last year. Carmen, Lamb, L McTeer, and myself we all at the game and it was beautiful, crisp weather. Our thoughts of the future were on much simpler things. We were focused on the "right now" instead of the "far away". I remember laughing and just truly enjoying the simplicity of life right then. I don't remember what the score of the game was, what classes I was in at the time, or what we did after, but I vividly remember sitting at that game and being completely content and happy. So what changed? Why do I feel I need to "plan" so far in advance, especially for something that may never come to pass? It's because I've gotten so consumed with life instead of living. So from here on out, no more "plan, plan, plan" because God laughs at plans. Instead, I'm just gonna sit back, take too many roadtrips, run through the rain when it's raining, and wait for rainbows to come my way!