Deluge...

A sudden heavy downpour of rain....
That about sums up Saturday's game. Another "first" for Emily and Zachary... this one shared by every other member of the family in attendance... and the entire stadium for that matter!

But, first things first! The forecast for rain wasn't enough to dampen Emily, Momma, Zachary and Daddy heading to Ann Arbor. Emily and Momma were out the door first, Emily thinking that only the two of us were leaving, (because last week she was told that we'd go ourselves, leaving Zachary home, so that we could stay at the game longer.) Emily was immediately perturbed... "why are they not staying home?"... it took me a minute to realize why she was upset, so I explained the plan was for Zachary and Daddy to leave when Zachary was ready, and Momma and Emily would come home w/ Dziadz.

That aside, one of the most important parts to the day was welcoming cousin Zoe to her first football tailgate. We tried to get a picture of the two babies together... but Zachary really wanted nothing to do w/ it, (surprise. pose for a picture? no.) Here he's only interested in the football just out of reach, and Zoe thinks it's pretty funny...
Once Zach got the football, he was gone...
But the girls sat for a quick pose.
Zoe sure is a cutey! Thanks so much to her Momma for bringing her!

So, tailgate weather was super. It started pleasant... cloudy, but comfortable. The game started the same. Not too hot, sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy. The Irish family even posed for a "fan photo" (after coincidentally turning one down just outside the stadium. Emily and Zachary in their Michigan best must make us look like an especially photogenic and probably the best looking family in the Big House.)

Then the clouds started getting darker...hmmmm. Now, momma's goal for Zachary was to incrementally make it longer at each game he attends. Last week Zach and Daddy left at 3 minutes left in the first quarter. This week I was hoping for 2:59... Zach really doesn't sit still very well, so even the shortest time is progress.... however, at about 7 minutes left, I really got to thinking that they should leave before getting caught in the rain (Momma didn't want her baby getting wet, let alone Daddy who probably wouldn't be too happy...) so, the responsible, unselfish mom took over and said "Why don't you just take Zachary back now." That was about 5 minutes left to go.

Somewhere under 4 minutes, there was a flash of lightning, a clap of thunder, and only seconds while everyone seemed to stand still as the refs walked off the field. What's going on? Are they really going to stop the game? Ordinarily, over more decades than momma's been alive, neither rain, nor sleet nor gloom of night, nor blow-out win, nor heartbreaking loss has stayed our football family from sitting in that stadium... until this Saturday. It was 3:30 in the quarter and quite a frenzy as everything happened at once...the teams ran off/crocodile size drops started to fall/and the stadium announcer said "The game will be postponed due to inclement weather. Please seek shelters in your vehicles." /What??/ and Dziadz said "I'll grab the baby let's go into the tunnel"/the deluge came down/OH NO! I know Daddy and Zachary could've only made it to the corner of Main and Stadium by this time...

Luckily, row 53 is right off section 6's entrance/exit, so we were quick to pick up and found some standing room w/ Uncle Rick in the walkway below the upper stadium seats... we stood there watching hundreds of fans pour out the same exit while we got more packed in...much like the thousands that were exiting elsewhere in the stadium... it was very claustrophobic...until they soon said that Crisler Arena would be opened for shelter. Great, go from being packed into the tunnels below the stadium, to herding over to Crisler, where no one could make a phone call, the lines for the bathrooms were long and it was difficult to find lost family members... on the simplest level of natural world catastrophes, it is definitely the most frenzied the Big House has been. Dziadz suggested a few times that we check on Daddy and Zachary.... but really, I just knew Zachary was fine (there were extra clothes in the car) and Daddy was probably just cold and wet... and not too happy w/ momma...

On the upside, Emily got to visit the basketball and volleyball arenas...(although it was difficult to explain to her that this is where they play basketball, but the volleyball court was set up at the current time. "Why? Where do they play basketball? Why can they not play basketball right now? When will they play volleyball? When can we see football again?" OK, right back on track... after an hour delay, (and losing Uncle Dan, John, Richard Scott but amazingly catching up w/ Joe, Meagen, Rachel and Veronica in Crisler) we were back in our seats ready to resume play. The hour delay made for a very long game, but even that did not make Emily want to go home before it was over. As it was, w/ about 5 minutes to go we packed up to start the walk back so Emily could do most of the walking at her own pace. Of course there still was "why are we leaving? is the game over? why are people still staying here".... Luckily it was CMU and I could comfortably say "yes, the game is over."

OH...back to the "neither rain, nor sleet nor gloom of night, nor blow-out win, nor heartbreaking loss has stayed our football family from sitting in that stadium"... well that motto still holds for the one and only Uncle Dan who sat through the deluge!

And Daddy and Zachary... yup, they made it just where I thought they did...(Stadium and Main) when the deluge came.. . Daddy then ran w/ Zachary to the car (which has to be what 3/4 mile?), only for it to let up once they got there. Zachary was changed, and daddy had a wet ride back home!