Sitting in the Rain

What do you find wrapped in painter's plastic and propped at the top of metal bleachers in the pouring rain? My family and me at a high school track meet! That is right. It is 11:30 am, the infield is filled with javelin throwers, high jumpers, and young men and women in different colored warm-ups as well coaches and officials milling around. The bleachers are filled with the three of us wearing ten-foot squares of plastic over our bodies while cold rain pelts our protective baseball caps and runs downward. We are prepared to stay dry while cheering the grand-kids/nieces on to victory.

That was the idea anyway until I suddenly became aware that my pants felt very wet. Not damp--WET. Yep. WET. When I had sat down, I had failed to get the plastic completely under me, so the water running down the plastic was pooling on the bleachers and soaking into my sweats.

So there I sat feeling like a toddler with a diaper problem.  At least I was warm and didn't have to get up for any reason other than to fix my plastic problem. I didn't even get up to eat lunch. I merely tucked my head under my plastic tent, opened my zippered tote and proceeded to dine on tuna salad, pineapple slices and a banana. That was dining al fresco at its finest.

We had an adventuresome time, especially when the sun occasionally made an appearance. That seemed to create a little condensation inside the plastic. Now we had water dripping not only down the outside of our protective covering, but down the interior as well. Oh happy day.

I came home happy, wet, and tired. By the time track season is over, I will have this plastic tarp system down to a science. But maybe not. All the rest of our meets have covered stands for the spectators. Every one but the State meet that is. All three years I have gone to State, we have had at least a few hours of rain. I guess I will have to practice staying dry by sitting on a chair in my back yard whenever the opportunity presents itself--which could be every day.

To be perfectly honest, I have quite a few more weeks of coming home happy, wet, and tired--happy because our kids did well, wet because the jaunt from the parking lot to the bleachers is not covered, and tired from the wind, the cold, and the intensity of the competition. Oh, but it is all so worth it.

Lovin' track season and knowing that the Lord reigns even when it rains.
Jan