Misery Is Sometimes Worth It

We don't get to go to BYU games very often, but when we saw that BYU was coming to the University of Virginia--only three hours from where we live--Scott bought tickets right away. 

We made a big weekend of it. We invited Scott's brother Paul and his wife Shelly and went camping the night before. We had a great time, and we knew the best was yet to come! 

Go cougars! 

We prepped our kids, telling them how much fun they would have, and how we all had to cheer on our old school. Their future school. We played football around the campfire. We dreamed in blue and white. 

In the morning we had a delicious breakfast.

A breakfast fit for a cougar. 

After we cleaned up camp we showered and drove to Charlottesville; home of the Wahoos. 

We parked and walked in the scorching heat up to the stadium.  Our kids said they were hot. "It is all going to be worth it!" we told them. Our kids said they were hungry. "I brought a huge bag of snacks!" I said. 

The walk to the stadium was longer than I anticipated. It was also hotter than I anticpated. By the time we reached the stadium our shirts and Danny's hair were soaked with sweat. Then, at the gate security would not let us bring in our bag of snacks. (Shame on you, UVA. Stealing food from children. All I can do is shake my head.) 

But to my frowning children I smiled and said, 

"That is okay! It will all be worth it! Who cares about snacks? We are going to watch BYU! Go cougars!" 

We joined the other BYU alums in our designated corner of the stadium. How fun it is to be surrounded by Mormons again! Babies everywhere!

The UVA Cavaliers know how to put on a great opening show. They even had a horse gallop out on the field. It was awesome.  It was exciting. And it was not to last. 

First Syrena lost one of her BYU earrings she got for her birthday. A bad omen. We sent Sophie and Syrena to get some popcorn when it was announced over the speakers that there was lightning on its way and that the STADIUM would be EVACUATED. The game stopped, we had to leave our seats. Strangely, we didn't have to leave the stadium decks. So we found a place next to the railing and waited.  It is a good thing we had the popcorn.  We only had one bottle of water so we kept filling it up from the drinking fountain.

 

Soon we were shoulder to shoulder with numerous other sweaty fans and their unhappy kids. UVA closed the concessions. We had no books, no toys, no snacks. We waited here for almost two hours, like rats in a cage. Like felons in the state pen. Like dogs in a puppy mill.

Two hours. In blistering heat. On cement. With four kids an a baby. 

Nursing was not going to happen here. So Scott fed the baby. 

 We were tired, hot, bored, miserable. 

But we were NOT going home. We are BYU alums. 

We entered to learn and gone forth to serve and now we are HERE to CHEER. 

 Eventually it started to rain and we entertained ourselves by watching people get wet.

We thought it might be fun to start singing the Courgar Fight Song, but neither Scott nor I could remember the words.

By the time they started to let people back in the stadium we had left to take our starving kids to McDonalds. That was okay, though, because it poured rain for the entire third quarter.

We got there at the fourth quarter and BYU played some really great football. The kids started to believe that we were telling the truth after all.

BYU even scored a touchdown.

We were so happy with that touchdown that it didn't matter that we didn't win.

(I'm lying.)

We got in the car at 9:30 pm, tired, sweaty, wet, sad. And Scott got a speeding ticket on the way home.


But in all of our misery the kids got a blurry photo with Cosmo at the end. And do you see? After all of that they are still smiling.

Here's to the next generation of cougars.