Thirty Year Class Reunion ... In Splats!

I can't believe I considered missing it in order to stay home with my partially mobile hubby, but he was getting around nicely ... even driving, so I went!! Trust me when I say I had the best time!!!

Glenda, Lori, Beth and Me

Now for those SPLATS!

* Even though the drive was kind of long, driving through the little towns of Locust Grove, Jackson and Monticello brought back tons of memories of when I drove home every weekend when I first moved to Atlanta. All those cows and pigs and horses and chickens ... it was like driving through Farm Town!!

* So downtown Milledgeville was closed off for the Deep Roots festival. Since I got into town early to make my pilgrimage to the Bakery, I enjoyed browsing the crafts and bumping into people I knew way back when I lived in this amazing little town! Deep Roots was a lot of fun and the music was REALLY wonderful! There is something paradoxically funky about walking through Milledgeville with some guy with a very strong hillbilly accent singing Patsy Clines "Crazy" at the top of his lungs! Even MORE paradoxical is when you notice that not only are YOU singing, but everyone around you is singing along as well!!! I'm so proud of my town!!! Haha!

* Three people came up to me, hugged me, called me by name and asked how the family was! They even told me they sure hated it when my mom died and wanted to know how Eric and the kids were. I have NO idea who they were. *blush*

* The first person I saw when I parked at GMC was Russel Harding who gave me a ticket to the football game. FABULOUS game and as always the GMC band rocked it! This half-time they did a melody of Queen tunes which was incredible!!! It takes real talent to do Bohemian Rhapsody and they didn't miss a note!!! Freddy would be proud!!!

* The campus looks amazing!!! General Boylan has done an awesome job with the school and it really reflects his efforts and success!!! Back when I was there, Air conditioning was just the cold stuff in the library ... now they have these amazingly wonderful buildings that perfectly reflect the nostalgia of the place and they are fully air conditioned!! I WELL remember literally sweating through finals.

That's her ... The old Capitol Building ... lots of great memories there!!! And yes, that's my old High School. Beautiful.

Duty Honor Country

Character above all ...

So beautiful ....

* I always have to make a pilgrimage to see the concrete bulldog that sits right outside the library. Number one, he is a point of pride for our school and represents the Bulldogs and our school spirit. But secondly, I have some fond memories of distracting Bob (the security guard at the time) with chicken from the Shrimp Boat (his favorite) around the back of Vinson Hall. While he munched down on chicken, me and my posse would sneak back around and paint the bulldog. I will always be partial to our baby blue one with hot pink eyes, but this new creation looks pretty good and I'm ashamed of myself that I never thought of it myself. :))

Okay ... how many times did I paint this dog?!? Three? Four? I sort of like this rendition ... :))

* The class of 79 met at Chops, an ancient bar downtown Milledgeville. The first person I saw was Glenda Brookins Chandler. It was the perfect way to start the reunion. While she and I barely passed three words between us my entire four years at GMC, I now consider her a very good friend and truly a kindred spirit. Over the years we've discovered we have so much in common and her husband Herbert is so much like Eric it's scary. Anyway ... eventually the rest of the class began trickling in (fashionably late of course) and the party began.

Me and Glenda ... haha ... LOVES her!!!

Lena and Glenda & Mike in the Back ...

At Chops ...

* The girls hadn't changed a lot ... at least "I" don't think we had. And as usual, we had so much to talk about and catch up on. It was so nice seeing them all!! It's been AGES since I'd seen Lindi and I was overjoyed to see her!! She hasn't changed a bit in thirty years!!!

The chicks ... Claire, Lindi, Glenda, Marsha, me and Lena

* The guys hadn't changed much either and amazingly they were still talking about the same things they USED to talk about thirty years ago. haha ... FOOTBALL!!! These three were my three favorites to watch during our GMC football games .... Walter, Mike and Russ ... it was nice to see the three of them sitting there chatting like old times!!! Great guys! Lets' see ... Walter is an attorney, Mike is an entrepreneurial genius ... he's in chalk and food, and Russel is an insurance agent. Still a force to be reckoned with.

Me & the guys ... Walter, Mike, me and Russ .... love these guys!!!

* I was happiest of all to see Lena!!! It has been thirty years since I saw her and she is still the warm and wonderful person she ever was! We used to love Journey and Queen ... now we love Casting Crowns and Queen! haha .... Anyway, I adore her and her laugh is absolutely contagious!!! She and Tony (her husband) were a happy addition to the reunion this year!!! I adore her!!!

Me and Lena ..... LOVE her!! ♥

* The food was yummy and the pasta salad was incredible!!! We danced, ate, had drinks from the bar, but most of all we did what the class of 79 is most famous for ... we partied!!! Before we went onto the Dance Floor, I grabbed the 1979 Sign on our table and we boogied out flaunting our sign and letting everyone know the class of 79' was STILL mighty fine!!!

Oh yeah ... the class of 79' is STILL mighty fine!!!

* I had to leave early to get back to Eric and his recovering knee, so after I said my "good-byes", I began the long dark trip back to Atlanta. About half way home I glanced over in the seat next to me and saw with delight the perfect picture to sum up my day .... acorns from the campus so I can root them and plant them in my yard ... confections from Ryals ... my GMC football ticket ... the alumni weekend program ... my name tag ... and a full and happy heart!!!

The seat next to me on the ride home ... my name tag, acorns, a box of Ryals, the program book and ticket to the football game!

* I looked around the tent last night at all the other classes mingling and talking, and perhaps it's because MY class is, after all, MY class ... we seemed different to me somehow. We're closer ... we seem to have a more spirituous thread that has kept us connected us through the years. We've lost a handful and those losses are deeply felt ... but those of us that remain are better, stronger, wiser, and happier because of our roots to GMC! Maybe it's because we were the 100th year class, or maybe it's simply because we are the more determined. But I believe with all my heart we took those values, traditions, and challenges put forward to us by our teachers and instructors at GMC and we took them as far as we could! We're all happy ... we're all successful ... and we're all still connected.

In my journal from 1979 I wrote down a quote from General Salet, headmaster of GMC when I attended. He and I had a great conversation while I was babysitting his dogs for him at his house one weekend while he and his wife traveled. We were sitting on his dock watching Balzac, his gigantic poodle bound around in the water after they returned, and I'd asked him why he preached "mental toughness so much".

"I'll tell you a secret," he said, "You won't get mental toughness at high school or even college, ... you'll get it once you're out there away from it, when you're out in the world and it's just you and everything you've been taught. The TOUGHNESS happens in your failures, not your successes ... but MENTAL toughness happens when you finally realize that it was your classmates and comrades, not your instructors, that shaped your ideals. Fifty years from now when you realize you've been a success, it'll all make sense. You'll see."

Amen. AMEN!