Triumphagy #001 - Rain Plan

Triumphagy - a combination of triumph and tragedy. Results from a triumph arising from a tragic situation, or vice versa.

Tragedy - My friend, TC, and I play in a community band in a town about an hour away from where I live. Every couple of weeks during the summer the band puts on a concert in the local park consisting of different musical themes. Today we were supposed to play a Gershwin concert, and I was a little nervous about it because I missed last week's rehearsal due to my vacation back home. So TC and I leave our jobs early, and drive up to the concert site. Right as we enter the city the bottom drops out of the sky. It was raining cats and dogs, and probably cows and horses too! We decided to go on to the concert site to see if they were hoping to ride out the storm, and play the concert after it ended. Nope. Right as we got to the concert site TC got a call saying that the concert was canceled and we shouldn't bother driving up. Great. At that point we had both left work early, missed dinner, and driven an hour for a concert we weren't going to play. On the way home the rain was so overpowering, and the road drainage so bad, we had to pull over on the side of the road for about 5 minutes because TC's truck kept hydroplaning a bit. We were both more than a little frustrated.

Triumph - The first triumph was in the drive itself. TC has become a mentor and close friend so I always enjoy our conversations. For some reason I was super hyper today, it probably had something to d0 with being stuck in the car by myself for 8 hrs yesterday. Normally our drives are quiet, with the occassional discussions on theology, current events, work, or whatever else, but today I was just full of news of my vacation. I'm sure he was wishing he'd had some duct tape in the truck with him, but he was a patient listener and I did let him get a few wordrs in edgewise. When we got back to TC's house, his wife, whom I love dearly, invited me to stay for dinner with them and hang out a bit. These guys have become my adopted family this past semester. I really treasure getting to spend time with them, and their advice and mentorship! Sometime I'll have to write more about them, and how we met, but for today the major triumph was just getting to hang out with them. They had turkey and gravy over biscuits for dinner. YUM (A good old Southern dinner)! I was really grateful for this since I hadn't gone shopping after getting back from my vacation. (I was extremely proud of myself, btw, for remembering to clean out the refrigerator, take out the trash, and do other chores before I left. It made me feel all gown up!) TC and I also have a hobby in common so we spent some time doing some research and looking at some stuff for that. Then we just sat around and watched the news together, and I gave their dog (pictured above) a little extra attention. He's a big weimaraner with a huge heart, and a sweet disposition. It was a wonderful spontaneous time. This a little thing that I consider an absolute triumph. It turned the frustration at a canceled concert into a fun relaxing evening with friends.