Drenching the Thanksgiving Spirit

Whereas I thought that I would have last night spent some time with family after a long drive out of town, I found myself instead watching the Back to the Future trilogy in my room. It was nice to have such an immediate relief from the cold rain, but ultimately disappointment still simmered.

---

It had been discussed for a few weeks. Being the un-planner that I am I continued to not really think about it until it was almost nigh. By then it was easy enough to take the positions of my sister and my mother that the trip to Otter Creek Park was such a large hassle and that I would much rather not spend my rare amount of holiday time off from work this semester to spend the night camping in Otter Creek with family.

Yesterday I had all intention of getting pretty drunk because it was the final tailgate of the year. Realization struck when I woke up early yesterday that not only would fewer people be tailgating, but that I wouldn't have planned to get drunk during a tailgate this semester and the only reason I had been telling people that I probably would be getting drunk was because it would relieve me of responsibility.

I realized that what I was fighting was not really what my sister or mother was fighting, it was that I was fighting things closer to hand: I didn't want to drive, I didn't want to use my car, and I didn't want to think. If I had realized this earlier, instead of feeding off my sister and mother's discontent, I could have effected those changes in much easier ways.

I found myself looking forward to it, actually, by the end of yesterday's game. The game, Louisville vs. Cincinatti at Louisville, was a beautiful rain drenched affair. I had left at half-time of the last rain drenched game, and so resolved myself to watching this one until the final quarter ran out of time. Few others seemed similarly resolved, but those that remained were all equally in high spirits. It's hard to imagine a better game: The first touch-down occured with only 12 seconds lost on the clock from the start of the game. By half-time the score was 42-0, which meant we had a taco game at the half (ticket stubs become worth free tacos from the local franchisee of the national fast-casual Qdoba chain at 40 points scored in a home game). The third quarter ended 63-0 and even though they scored in the fourth quarter the final score still left us a 63 point lead at 70-7. This was one of the most incredibly one-sided games I've seen and it was all the more satisfactory for the victory to be against a regional rival in our conference (both current (C-USA) and incoming (Big East)) that continued to brag this year about having a better defense than us even when the stats didn't show it. Sure, their offense had suffered major damage from the loss of their main quarterback, but if their defense was as great as they bragged it was we shouldn't have been able to post as many points as we did.

It was an awesome game and well worth the thorough soak I recieved from the medium-heavy mildly cold rains. In fact, the cold really didn't hit until I found myself trudging out of the stadium and down the sidewalk in the direction of my car. Recounting the game with family over dinner was the only thing I could think of even as I stopped in the Arby's halfway between the stadium and my car for a cup of coffee and a few brief moments to warm myself. Not a few minutes after leaving the warmth of the Arby's, as I was again trudging in the mildly cold rain, my jacket I noticed was weighing some ten or twenty pounds from all the rain it appears to have soaked up, I was informed that there had been some sort of wreck on Dixie Highway and we weren't going to even attempt the drive.

Whereas I thought that I would have last night spent some time with family after a long drive out of town, I found myself instead watching the Back to the Future trilogy in my room. It was nice to have such an immediate relief from the cold rain, but ultimately disappointment still simmered.

I didn't even have dinner, because I was cold and tired and had already passed up eating at Arby's for the promise of eating with family. Instead I took the opportunity to remove my wet clothes and curl up in my warm room watching movies. It wasn't the same as having a large meal with family, and in the end I find that I regret it. My sister sounded pretty happy not to have to make the drive to Otter Crrek. I was just tired and soaked.

As much as previous years' memories of outings to Otter Creek with my dad's large family are often drenched and soaked themselves in small annoyances, I should be thankful that I have a family that has them and for what joys and entertainments do come out of them.

For a much more blissful tale of this Thanksgiving season, my friend Andy posted his own thoughts.