"Where are you kids going?" Grandma hollered after us as we walked out the door on a lazy, late summer day in September.
"To the football game, Grandma." I answered as I hopped into my cousin, Brandy's, little gray Honda Civic. "Then to the parking lot dance afterwards. We'll be home by midnight. Love you!"
"Hey! You kids take a jacket!" Grandma warned.
"Oh, Grandma!" I laughed as I kicked up the air conditioning in the Honda. "It's 80 degrees right now. We're not going to get cold. It'll be fine."
But Grandma wouldn't have it. She told us to wait while she grabbed a couple of sweatshirts and threw them on the back seat of the Honda. Off we drove to the football game to enjoy the evening with our friends and, of course, left those sweatshirts on the back seat of the Honda, scoffing at the gesture and mimicking Grandma as she hollered after us, "Take a jacket!" We thought we were pretty funny.
When we entered the stadium and found our usual seats in the student section, we were cooking. It was, indeed, quite warm as the sun was still high on the horizon in the West, blazing right into our eyes at Uintah High Football Stadium, and keeping us quite toasty. I was even sweating a little as the boys ran their pre-game drills and we danced and cheered around with our friends. The football team soon cleared the field and ran off to have another pre-game pep-talk, so it was up to us fans to keep that stadium noisy and rockin'.
"We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit, how about YOU?" we screamed at the opposing team's fan section.
They'd scream back at us and we'd answer them a few times back and forth then the whole stadium would erupt into wild cheers as our football team ran back out onto the field. It wasn't until three more "We've got spirit!" wars and two "The mighty Utes are gonna tomahawk-a you" cheers that I started to notice the night air was beginning to cool off.
"Ahhhh! Relief" I said to myself as I wiped the remaining sweat off my brow and settled in to enjoy the rest of the cool night air. The sun had dipped below the horizon, creating a gorgeous sunset for us to enjoy during half-time, after we watched our best girlfriends perform with the drill team, of course. As our football team rushed back onto the field, I felt myself shiver with pride as the boys broke through the giant banner the cheerleaders had worked on all afternoon. I shivered with more pride as the band started up the familiar refrains of the school song.
"A valiant band of warriors brave from Uintah High are we…" we sang along.
By the time we got to the "Fight! Fight!" part of the song at the end I realized I really wasn't THAT proud and that, in all honesty, I was mostly just kinda chilly. That was what all the shivering was about. The cool night air continued to get cooler and by the time the boys kicked off for the second half, I was downright cold. So was Brandy. I could tell. Neither of us wanted to admit we were cold though, so I offered to get us some hot chocolate. I made my way down the stadium steps and got in a very long line with a bunch of other fools in shorts and t-shirts. As I looked around, I noticed most people wrapping up in blankets.
"I just thought they brought those to sit on." I said to one of my girlfriends in a red and white tank top who was ahead of me in the hot chocolate line.
"I wish I had one of those blankets right now." She muttered through chattering teeth.
"Wimp!" I laughed and playfully punched her on the arm, but Grandma's words echoed in my head as I walked back to my seat.
"Take a jacket!"
I arrived back at our seats just as the siren sounded for the end of the 3rd quarter. Brandy and I sat back down to enjoy our hot chocolate and polished off our cups just in time to join in the "Warm up the bus!" jeers to the opposing team. Our Utes were barely ahead and there was still half of the 4th quarter left to go, but it's never too early to jeer the opposing fan section. Brandy and I jumped around the rest of the game, energized and warmed a little by the hot chocolate. Our friends thought we were extra peppy and supportive that game, but Brandy and I both knew it was an attempt to prove Grandma wrong and we were really just trying to stay warm. It was still September though, and by all rights, it WAS still officially the summer season. We didn't need those jackets! We could handle those cool late summer nights just FINE.
After the post game rush onto the field to congratulate our boys and high-five and hug our friends in celebration of our team's win, Brandy and I hurried out to her car. She started the engine and immediately we felt that blast of cold air from the air conditioner we had turned on earlier in the day as we ran out the door at Grandma's.
"BRRRRRR!" Brandy said as she shivered and switched the controls over to heater and hot air.
Brandy and I looked at each other as we sat there, warming our cold arms. Our gazes slowly turned to the back seat and fell up on those two unworn sweatshirts. They seemed to mock us saying, "Shouldda listened to Grandma, girls!" as they laid there on the back seat. We reached for those sweatshirts at the same time, wrapped ourselves in their warmth and silently thanked God for a wise Grandma who always made sure to remind us of one important thing before we left the house on a soon-to-be-chilly Friday night in September.
"Take a jacket!"
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