On a recent Saturday night, I sat in my husband’s car in a parking lot, with an unenthusiastic but persistent drizzle of rain coming down. I sighed and tried to have a positive outlook about my situation. It could be worse. I was not being held hostage; I was there of my own volition. But it was not exactly my idea of a super fun time, either.
Don, on the other hand, was almost ebullient – at least as close to exuberant as Engineer Don can be. His emotional state was similar to other significant life events. For example, he certainly seemed pleased after we said our wedding vows 38 years ago. And while I do not recall his demeanor after the birth of each one of our three children, I think he was chipper.
My husband could not be happier; we were listening to the University of Washington Huskies college football team dominate the Michigan State Spartans on the car radio.
Don’s devotion to his alma mater football team is legendary. UW football is by far his favorite spectator sport. He has a closet of Husky apparel – t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, and the like. But finding a pair of crisp khaki pants and a decent sports jacket for an upcoming wedding was a huge problem, one that recently required a last-minute trip to a local department store.
We knew that we would miss at least the first half of the Michigan State game as we would be driving back from a wedding in Sun Valley, Idaho. I assured Don that I would drive so that he could stream the game and watch it. Several hours into the drive, the game started, and Don pulled out his cell phone to watch the broadcast. The streaming was delayed and often paused and failed, so Don decided it would be better to simply listen to it on the radio. Unfortunately, the only broadcast he could find was that from the Michigan State sportscasters; they disparaged and called foul on every significant UW play and ridiculed each failed Husky maneuver.
It was tough to hear, even for someone like me whose fandom is more related to my devotion to my spouse than team loyalty. I am a good sport – pun intended.
We were heartened by our arrival at the lovely landmark Geiser Grand Hotel in Baker City, Oregon, our lodging for the night. We checked in quickly and hurried to our room. Don opened the antique cabinet that held the television, turned it on, and began flipping through the channels. I knew something was wrong when he began thumbing through the pages of the hotel guest directory. Don was stunned to learn that our charming historic hotel did not air ABC, the channel that the game was on.
We rushed downstairs to the hotel restaurant and bar, certain that such an important Pac 12 contest would be on a television, but no such luck. It was now half time, which gave us twenty minutes to prowl the street and peek in the windows of nearby bars to see if the game was on TV. We briefly flirted with the idea of checking into a cheap hotel to watch the game, although booking a room for just an hour or two could raise some eyebrows. But as it was now the third quarter, we knew we were running out of time.
We eventually realized that we would have to sit in the car in the gathering dusk and dampness to listen to the rest of the game. And so, we did.
The game had a happy outcome for die-hard fan Don, and he cheerfully related to me that he had been at the game when UW played Michigan State over fifty years ago when he was a college freshman. How he can remember that event when I cannot recall what team the Huskies played a week ago is a mystery to me.
After we arrived home the next day, Don puttered around, tending to dogs and luggage. I was delighted to be home, able to relax in familiar surroundings, with a variety of television channel options at my disposal. Don, on the other hand, immediately turned on the Michigan State game that he had recorded and began to watch it from the start.
I should have known.