I recently spent a few days in small town Tennessee. It's a long drive from where I live, and I had mentioned to someone as I had been heading out of state that I was going there, and they asked me, "What does Tennessee have that we don't have?" And the short and only answer is simply, my sister.
I honestly would never have any interest in Tennessee if my sister didn't live here at the moment. Not that Tennessee isn't cool or anything because it is a beautiful state, it's just not really my typical cup of tea. However, my sister lives here, and she could live in the middle of a jungle and I would find a way to go see her.
So, I made the 8+ hour trip without a second thought. And I should have known how my little trip would have turned out, based on the weather. I have made the long drive many times now, however, every single time, I have always had bad weather. Snow, rain, fog, you name it, I've probably driven in it. However, for the first time ever, my drive had clear skies and was absolutely beautiful. The weather was lovely. The temperature was warm and nice. And virtually, there was nothing ominous about the drive, except my flip-flop broke at the last stop I made of the drive as I walked out of a gas station. However, I have been in Tennessee for 3 days now, and it has not stopped raining since I unloaded my car. It has been gloomy and just bleh.
My sister happens to play for her school's soccer team, and I came down pretty specifically for this game. She's had a really rough semester so far for a lot of reasons, and I wanted to be supportive. And to be quite honest, this was not the first soccer game I've sat in the pouring rain through, and most likely, it will not be the last. However, when I came down to Tennessee, I was simply prepared for warmth and sunshine. I did not bring a rain jacket. I did not pack an umbrella or enough socks, and my other pair of shoes broke on the drive here. Not really the start to the trip I wanted.
On the other hand though, my sister got to play in that game. We got dinner together and hung out for a while before she had to go back to school. Then me and my dad watched a movie, Die Hard 2 I believe, which was highly unbelievable, however, I needed to know how it ended lol.
Then the next day was also not the most predictable or relaxing either. My sister came to the hotel, and informed us that her phone wasn't really working and was getting worse. So, instead of just watching football at Bdub's as was planned, we went on a new phone hunt. Luckily, my dad was also in town, so we had a third person's assistance if needed. So, three hours in the car later, we got back to my next hotel with a new phone. I was able to set it up for her completely within a few hours as we watched football, and the day just sort of just flew by.
So far, the absolute best part of the trip so far, has been the Raven's game. Now, we didn't attend it in person or anything like that. Those tickets are hella expensive, especially when your broke lol, and you know location is kinda an issue, since we were in Tennessee. But after a not so great couple days of just bleh, there was this like light at the end of the tunnel.
Right before the game started, my sister ran back to her dorm to go get her jersey. We are avid Ravens fans, and also incredibly superstitious. So, as the tradition has been for many years now, I ordered us pizza to be delivered shortly after the game started. My sister came back with her jersey, and to surprise me, she had stopped at dairy queen and gotten us ice cream, which was the sweetest thing ever. We then were cheering on our team, a game that we didn't have high hopes for due to our teams extensive injury list. During the game, our family group chat is going off, talking about good and bad plays, giving virtual high fives, and then some, when my mom sends this picture of our dog. I though the picture was adorable, until my sister zoomed in on the dog's face. My sweet little Jojo, looked ridiculous. This then led to hysterical laughing in our little corner of the hotel, which then led to my sister looking at even more ridiculous photos of our dogs, and they had us cracking up and hardly paying attention to the very important game at hand. Once we started, we couldn't stop. And that good vibe energy carried us through the game, which our team pulled out a W at the last second to make us super stressed but also so excited. Sports are a big deal in my family. lol.
And the point of all this was, things haven't been going either of our ways for a while. We needed a win. We needed time to just decompress and let go of everything else. So, exciting for her, she got a new phone. Exciting for me, I got a new laptop this week because my died the day before my trip. The rainy weather isn't ideal. The gloomy vibes had their hold. But for a couple hours of a meh, okay, day, things were fine. Things were good. We decided not to let the things that were happening to us lately, not ruin our day. And in reality, most of that day was inconvenience, sure, but it was also a win. And even if it was just for a few hours, we went from losing to winning. And it's all about the things we do now, that hopefully keep us on the winning path.
I hope you also go from losing to winning, and are able to sustain it. I hope that today is a good day, and you have lots of little wins.
Till next time,
CC