Saturday, November 3, 2012

going home

No blog posts happening this week – that’s what happens when I get preoccupied with things.  Keeping up with my survey has made me a busy lady this week and hallelujah for that!  I can offer a gift card now and with this ever-so-tiny bit of incentive, people are signing up to take my survey.  I’m almost halfway to the minimum number of people needed.  It’s way better than where I was, but there are many, many long miles to the finish line. 

Halloween was a nonevent this year.  Our city leaders decided that with the cold rain brought through our area by Hurricane Sandy, they should postpone Trick or Treat until November 1st.   Evidently, people skipped or went someplace else for Trick or Treat because not a single kid came to our door.  It’s too bad because Erin went all out decorating our house with spiders, ghosts, a graveyard, and a sinister jack ‘o lantern.  And now we have a giant bowl of candy nobody wants, but I imagine teen girls will take care of any unwanted junk food before it should be tossed out. 
 
 
 
My girls had a writing workshop today on the campus of Morehead State University, my Alma Mater. It felt a bit like going home, if it’s ever really possible to go home again.  I thoroughly enjoyed walking around campus to see what has changed since I last visited.  The campus has changed considerably and it’s a good thing to see the university thriving through expansion and improvements. 

My favorite hangout - Eagle Lake
 
view of campus from Eagle Lake dam
My grandmother was very displeased that I enrolled at Morehead, believing all I was going there for was to find a husband, and I could do that at the local community college just as well and for less money.  My grandfather voiced no opinion, but that was typical for him.  He rarely spoke, but I think he was OK with my decision.  I had saved enough money to pay for freshman year and because I needed no money from them, I did what I wanted.

I had no car in those days, so my grandparents drove me to campus and helped me carry my things into my dorm room.  In those days, Morehead was about a three-hour trip from where they lived.  When they said good-bye and left, it was like somebody flipped a switch – something changed.  Maybe it was me who changed.  It was early afternoon and a very hot August day, but for some reason the first thing I wanted to do was take a long, hot shower.  Perhaps the shower symbolized washing away every last trace of my former life.

After that shower, I set off to explore the campus and to go buy textbooks for my classes.  It was exhilarating to be in a place by myself and completely on my own with nobody to answer to.  That first walk down through the center of campus on my first day was a walk I will never forget.  It was like starting a new life...in fact, it was the start of a new life for me.      

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