The Perfect Place for a Picnic

The gentle evening breeze was a tangible reminder of the many reasons I love Tennessee. My suitemate (and former roommate), Emily, and I were making our first trek of the school year down our precious Greenway. “Oh, I love this spot!” I exclaimed upon seeing one of my favorite scenic points along the path. “I wanted to have a picnic here last year and never got around to it. We’ll have to do it sometime this year,” I added. Emily nodded in agreement and said we’d have to make it a priority. Our conversation immediately moved on, and our picnic plans were forgotten… by me, at least.

The next morning, I was busy at work in Talge Hall, the men’s dormitory. Just as I was beginning to wonder if any of my friends would be at the café for lunch, my phone vibrated. A text from Emily; always a treat! But what I saw was a complete surprise. “Want to meet me at the pretty spot on the greenway at 1215? Come hungry :)” the text read. Once again, I was amazed at my dear friend’s thoughtfulness.

Now, one would assume that the story ends with a delightful picnic in the grass surrounded by majestic trees covered in vivid, green cudzoo… but this is where our tale takes an unexpected twist. My favorite spot is about a 10-15 minute walk from the parking lots. With only one hour for lunch break, I was walking as fast as my flip-flops would allow. I was running a few minutes late and was sure Emily would be waiting. About five minutes into my walk, however, my phone rang. You guessed it: it was Emily. “Wait up, silly! I’m trying to catch up with you,” she said. I turned around to see Emily heading towards me with a picnic blanket and bag full of food. Right as she caught up with me, it began to sprinkle. We looked at each other and laughed as Emily opened her bright blue umbrella and we continued our walk. The rain began to fall harder and we realized our picnic in the grass wouldn’t be a possibility. Standing under an umbrella that barely covered both of our heads, picnic gear in hand, we contemplated our options. Just before our desired picnic location was a covered bridge under the train tracks. So, with only about 40 minutes of our break left (and a 15 minute walk back to the parking lot) we spread the blanket out on the sidewalk under the bridge and consumed our yummy lunch.

As we cleaned up the remnants of our lunch and sped back to our cars, we decided that we’d had much more fun than we would have if our perfect picnic spot had worked out. A noisy train overhead, amused joggers carefully avoiding our blanket, and the sight of pouring rain all around us had us in stitches all throughout our meal. We laughed almost the entire time we were together and will cherish the memory of our rainy-day picnic forever. Thanks for your thoughtfulness, Em! We’ll have to try for the special spot again sometime. Who knows what might happen then?