Long Story But the Point is Worth it ...
I started a new full-time job, on Friday, which means I now will not be able to go to any of the home games for The University of Oklahoma. (BOOMER SOONER!) When I took the position, I told them I already had plans for Saturday or yesterday. It was the first game of the season - and we had a huge family tailgate planned and everyone was counting on me begin there.
It was in the high nineties yesterday with no cloud cover. So to say it was hot was an understatement. Some of the ladies around me literally had their makeup melting away as the heat had them drenched. My sister had an awesome mister bottle that she kept spraying us with, and we had a nice fan plugged in so we could get some air ... but it was still sweltering.
The reason I love these things is that all of our friends and family stopping in to visit and eat. We all bring something and usually, there's a ton of food. We have our standard group of people in our tent, and they all usually bring something to contribute. The tents next to us all know each other, and we all share food and swap stories.
However yesterday we had some people there that were not invited by us. Although they weren't total party crashers, as they were family members of some friends, they still came empty-handed and sponged off everything in sight. Okay ... I shouldn't say empty-handed. They brought their own beer... but they didn't pack water for their own children. So they ate all our food and let their kids fend for themselves.
(OKAY HERE'S THE MOM IN ME ROARING) What kind of parent packs beer for themselves, but doesn't plan ahead for a hot day for their child????
We ended up giving the kids, who were within minutes of exposure to the heat flushed, a ton of water to drink, which meant we didn't have our own water to drink. I'd happily go without water to make sure a child was taken care of, but I thought it was a shame that I was caring for kids, as their parents partied down at the end of my tent.
Needless to say, I didn't have enough water, and by the time I climbed 76 steps to get to my seats in the stadium - I felt light-headed and thought I could pass out. BUT I kept my mouth shut because I know when it comes to games, my husband is zoned into football and heaven forbid I upset the apple cart.
He bought us both a strawberry freeze, and I thought something ice-cold would be good for me, as I was feeling overheated and worn out. Within ten minutes of eating it - it felt like I bottomed out. My head was pounding, my stomach was raging, and the noise of the crowds around me felt like it was ringing through every nerve in my system. I felt like I was going to explode ... that's the only way I can describe it.
To add insult to injury ... I have a problematic tailbone from an old injury. My husband forgot to bring something comfortable to sit on, so the hard benches had my tailbone in so much pain that I sat on either side of my behind to keep pressure off it.
Is that enough going on all at once? I couldn't believe that a 42-year-old was having so many issues. I mean it felt like I should have been 65 with all that was happening at that moment.
Long story short ... I made it through one quarter. My husband, although having a hard time understanding why I was having issues, stood me up and we left to pack up the tailgating gear. It took another hour to get it all packed away.
He'd parked maybe 50-60 yards away in an apartment parking lot, with a note in the windshield, which let the apartment management know that he was a visitor. We usually park about a mile away and pay 20 bucks or so. However, a family friend told us to use his friend's apartments to park in, saying that we had permission to do so if we put a note on our dashboard.
After my husband finished toting everything over to the back of the truck, he came back to get me near our tailgate (I was resting in a chair) and asked me to walk over to get in the truck. He lifted up the generator and hauled it back to finish packing everything away.
When I got in our truck, I glanced at his back windshield and noticed a large X had been shoe-polished on it. I didn't think anything of it as I was just trying to lift myself up into the passenger side. Once we got out of the parking lot and headed toward home, my cell phone rang ...
It was my mother in law and she said her car had been towed. She parked where we did, with the same sort of note on her dashboard. We asked her what happened ...
Apparently, the girl that gave them (and consequently us) permission to be her visitor gave us the wrong information. She said all we had to do was leave a note on our dashboard saying we were visiting her. However, the apartment manager requires an official blue pass issued from their office, which none of us had.
212 dollars later my mother in law got her car back, which also had an X shoe polished on their car.
Long story short ... although my day had downward spiraled into a dehydrated, overheated, geriatric back, with a frustrated and abrupt husband kind of experience ... it was all used for our good as we were slated to be towed away. Not only could we not spare 212 dollars at the moment, but we would have had no way to tote all that tailgate gear back to Oklahoma City.
Once we got home, my over anxious husband returned to his normal sweet self and actually thanked me for getting sick. LOL. God's plans were bigger than his expectations of what game day should be like. He could have stayed and had a great game day ... and watch all four quarters of bliss ... only to find his truck gone. I think he'd rather go home in a piss-poor mood, than to have to shell out money for his truck.
It was in the high nineties yesterday with no cloud cover. So to say it was hot was an understatement. Some of the ladies around me literally had their makeup melting away as the heat had them drenched. My sister had an awesome mister bottle that she kept spraying us with, and we had a nice fan plugged in so we could get some air ... but it was still sweltering.
However yesterday we had some people there that were not invited by us. Although they weren't total party crashers, as they were family members of some friends, they still came empty-handed and sponged off everything in sight. Okay ... I shouldn't say empty-handed. They brought their own beer... but they didn't pack water for their own children. So they ate all our food and let their kids fend for themselves.
We ended up giving the kids, who were within minutes of exposure to the heat flushed, a ton of water to drink, which meant we didn't have our own water to drink. I'd happily go without water to make sure a child was taken care of, but I thought it was a shame that I was caring for kids, as their parents partied down at the end of my tent.
Needless to say, I didn't have enough water, and by the time I climbed 76 steps to get to my seats in the stadium - I felt light-headed and thought I could pass out. BUT I kept my mouth shut because I know when it comes to games, my husband is zoned into football and heaven forbid I upset the apple cart.
He bought us both a strawberry freeze, and I thought something ice-cold would be good for me, as I was feeling overheated and worn out. Within ten minutes of eating it - it felt like I bottomed out. My head was pounding, my stomach was raging, and the noise of the crowds around me felt like it was ringing through every nerve in my system. I felt like I was going to explode ... that's the only way I can describe it.
To add insult to injury ... I have a problematic tailbone from an old injury. My husband forgot to bring something comfortable to sit on, so the hard benches had my tailbone in so much pain that I sat on either side of my behind to keep pressure off it.
Is that enough going on all at once? I couldn't believe that a 42-year-old was having so many issues. I mean it felt like I should have been 65 with all that was happening at that moment.
Long story short ... I made it through one quarter. My husband, although having a hard time understanding why I was having issues, stood me up and we left to pack up the tailgating gear. It took another hour to get it all packed away.
He'd parked maybe 50-60 yards away in an apartment parking lot, with a note in the windshield, which let the apartment management know that he was a visitor. We usually park about a mile away and pay 20 bucks or so. However, a family friend told us to use his friend's apartments to park in, saying that we had permission to do so if we put a note on our dashboard.
After my husband finished toting everything over to the back of the truck, he came back to get me near our tailgate (I was resting in a chair) and asked me to walk over to get in the truck. He lifted up the generator and hauled it back to finish packing everything away.
When I got in our truck, I glanced at his back windshield and noticed a large X had been shoe-polished on it. I didn't think anything of it as I was just trying to lift myself up into the passenger side. Once we got out of the parking lot and headed toward home, my cell phone rang ...
It was my mother in law and she said her car had been towed. She parked where we did, with the same sort of note on her dashboard. We asked her what happened ...
Apparently, the girl that gave them (and consequently us) permission to be her visitor gave us the wrong information. She said all we had to do was leave a note on our dashboard saying we were visiting her. However, the apartment manager requires an official blue pass issued from their office, which none of us had.
212 dollars later my mother in law got her car back, which also had an X shoe polished on their car.
Long story short ... although my day had downward spiraled into a dehydrated, overheated, geriatric back, with a frustrated and abrupt husband kind of experience ... it was all used for our good as we were slated to be towed away. Not only could we not spare 212 dollars at the moment, but we would have had no way to tote all that tailgate gear back to Oklahoma City.
Once we got home, my over anxious husband returned to his normal sweet self and actually thanked me for getting sick. LOL. God's plans were bigger than his expectations of what game day should be like. He could have stayed and had a great game day ... and watch all four quarters of bliss ... only to find his truck gone. I think he'd rather go home in a piss-poor mood, than to have to shell out money for his truck.
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