Crazy Thunderstorms

Last week, Tennessee played the LSU Tigers in Neyland Stadium. For those of you who don’t keep up with college athletics, let me give you a brief synopsis of UT’s football season: it’s been rough (now 0-8 in the SEC rough.) Regardless of the season’s record, I was going to this game.

Even though the forecast showed an 80-100% chance of rain.

A group of new friends invited me to eat dinner and go to the game, so I met them all geared up and ready to go with my rain-boots and rain-jacket. We made dinner, hung out, and watched as the sky grew dark and the wind picked up. If anything, this ominous spirit in the air made us more excited to watch the match-up that was about to unfold on Shield-Watkins Field.

As we walked into the stadium, I was in awe. Sure, I’ve walked into that stadium countless times before, but something was different. This time, it felt a little risky to be there – almost as if the breeze of the coming storm and the lights of the stadium were preparing the football players AND the fans for battle.

We got adjusted into our seats (in the front row,) and watched the first half of the game through little waves of drizzles. Then, out of nowhere, came the monsoon.

I kid you not when I say I have NEVER experienced harder rain in my life. It pounded down on us so harshly that you could see the wind pushing the direction of the rain in the air. The water elicited cheers, dancing and the highest of spirits from all of the fans tough enough to stick it out.

https://twitter.com/wiley_stidham/status/932308523891019780

Water gushed down the stadium to where we stood in the front row, piling up inches and creating a river around our feet. The Jumbotron even flickered its power at one point. The stadium also started playing a song very apropos for the weather: Luke Combs’ “When it Rains it Pours.” We almost missed the teams running back onto the field to start the second half due to the deluge from the sky.

A few days out from this story, I’m still looking at the pictures and videos from that night. But one video in particular just makes me stop and smile. At one point during the downpour, I pulled out my phone and took a video of the reaction from my friends. Their cheers and smiles remind me of how much fun it was to stand in the rain and enjoy every second of it – to enjoy one of the things in life that most of us find inconvenient most of the time.

I was grateful for a group of people that voluntarily chose to stand in the rain. For the same group that took a pit stop at Zaxby’s after the game – taking over two whole booths, (one for our wet clothes,) to eat chicken (obviously,) and recount all of the good moments from that night. For the stories and details we’ve been bringing up for a couple of days now. For the stadium filled with people who were just happy to be in a place they loved, supporting a team they loved.

Even though they can be inconvenient at times, I’m grateful for life’s storms. Sure, they can be unexpected, but sometimes the best moments come when you’re drenched and taking the rain-drops as they come.

So, what’s the point of all this? I guess it would be to say that I’m starting to be grateful for life’s storms, and especially grateful for the people who ride the storms out with me.