30 Years Ago

Today we took our eldest daughter up to Mississippi State to begin her sophomore year. Her car was loaded and so was ours. Mr. H carried the heavier stuff and left us girls to bring the rest. He was watching her pull out bags and inquired what was in the red duffel bag. She smiled a big smile and said, "Shoes!" She loves shoes. There was also a bright green garment back that was making a return visit to campus. It was a high school graduation gift TO ME 30 years ago. I used it to carry hang-up clothes back and forth for 4 years. Last year my daughter asked me if I had a hang-up bag she could use. I still had that green one, with its little bow-ties all the way down and my initials monogrammed in navy blue. We both laugh when we see it.

We got everything up to her room and unpacked and put together. About 1:15 we were hot, sweaty, and hungry. We went to town and ate at Mugshots. It is a great burger place.

Mr. H reminded me that 30 years ago, I had been on the other side of the delivery to campus. In the fall of 1978, my dad took me up to State. I had been to band camp for 6 summers, so I was familiar with the campus, especially the band hall. That's where Dad took me. I was there a week before classes started because I was in the Maroon Band. Dad deposited me and my footlocker in the band hall that morning and then he was gone. I had no idea how I was going to get my stuff to my dorm when it opened later in the day. After our first practice, I was just standing there, looking lost when a knight came to my rescue. An obviously older guy (probably a sophomore!) who was a trombone player, walked over, picked up the foot locker and said "Where to?" I told him "McKee." He walked out the door, put the footlocker in the back of his truck, and held the truck door open for me. I lived on the 3rd floor of McKee, which from the back parking lot was up 3 1/2 flights of stairs (you had to go UP to the basement floor from the back because it was built on a hill). Arlon will always be a hero to me.

Side note: The current director of bands, Elva Kaye Lance, was Elva Kaye Timms (or maybe Thames) at the time. She was a majorette who had been one of my counselors the previous summer at band camp. We had all giggled that she was dating Mr. Lance, a young high school band director in the north east Mississippi area. Why was that so funny back then?