Yesterday was my company's summer party. One of my co-workers has been planning this event all month. That morning it was cloudy and 10 degrees cooler than the day before, but we moved forward with our plans nonetheless.
At 11:00 a.m. the marketing team arrived at Big Cottonwood Park ladened down with raw meat, condiments, bags of ice, cake, coolers, and drinks. The wind was blowing approximately 50,000 miles an hour, so we anchored anything that weighed less than five pounds down with pickle jars, drinks, and plates of watermelon. Our hair blew in thousands of different directions at once, clothes threatened to part from our bodies, and the letter A on our ChartLogic cake peeled off.
But the rest of the employees arrived anyway, and became very adept at crouching over their plates while they ate to prevent the wind from whipping their burgers, chips, and cake balls away. Piling our plates with food was difficult, as we no longer had the option of putting our plates down while we loaded up. More than one of us upended our feasts that way.
Phase two of the event was a company kickball game. We were prepared to play despite the wind, but by the time everyone made it to the field the wind had finally died down.
In its place was a light drizzle.
We divided into four teams. As the hour wore on, the rain got heavier and heavier, but the battle for 1st place only got more intense. It didn't matter that the ball was hard to catch because it was so slippery. It didn't matter that injuries were more likely due to the wet grass. We played on, and by the time the winning team put my team out of our misery (they scored at least 12 runs in the last inning), we were all thoroughly damp.
And thus I fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams; playing sports in the rain with no shoes on. Softball games are usually canceled the minute a blip of lightning appears 50 miles away, and most umpires require that athletes wear proper footwear for their own safety. But yesterday there was no thunder, no lightning, and no umpires. And, it turns out, it's kind of hard to kick with flip flops on, so I was one of four who played barefoot in the warm, summer rain.
In short, it was awesome.
Most of us returned to the office wet, exhausted, and frizzy-haired. But I would gladly relive that experience.
And today, I went grocery shopping right before the big rainstorm hit. As the cashier was ringing up my items, I watched in awe as floods of thick raindrops came pelting down on unprepared victims. I pulled out my Utah Jazz umbrella as I exited the store and walked calmly along to my car. Despite my attempts to keep both my hair and my groceries dry, each bag had taken in a lot of water by the time I finally got them in the car. My hair was still mostly dry, but my pants were making delightful galoshing noises as I put my cart away.
I felt like I had just climbed out of a swimming pool when I finally entered the welcoming arms of my apartment. I threw my clothes in the dryer, put pajamas on, and mopped up the puddles I had tracked in. I now have a full evening of Harry Potter, hot chocolate, and freshly dried clothes to look forward to.
Neither of these experiences would have made it to my blog if it had been a typical sunny, summer weekend. But when it rains, life becomes much more blog worthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment