Going "Home"

This weekend is Homecoming at Presbyterian College (www.presby.edu) and my 10 year reunion. I can't believe 10 years has gone by so fast. PC is a small private liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere. At least it feels that way. It's in a small town in the upstate of South Carolina in between Greenville and Columbia called Clinton. There is a town not too far from Clinton called Prosperity. Since I was there during the late 90s, when President Clinton was in office, and I was in a relatively conservative part of the state, there were lots of pictures of the directional sign Clinton/Prosperity with arrows facing in opposite directions. The town is really small - maybe 10,000 or so if I had to guess. And everyone in town seems to either work at PC or have some connection to it. In a town that small, the college age people stand out pretty easily. We were the ones at WalMart or Waffle House at 2 am because there was nothing better to do and we were bored. I don't think it ever occurred to us that we should be studying or, heaven forbid, asleep!

Clinton was a fantastic place to spend 4 years. Having only about 1200 students, PC is the kind of school where your professors notice if you're not in class more than a day or two in a row - and they care enough to call to make sure you're ok. I missed several classes with a bad case of bronchitis my senior year. I actually ended up in the infirmary for a few days because I was so contagious. I had professors calling the infirmary and my dorm room to check on me.

PC is the kind of school where professors are more than teachers. They become friends. They teach you so much more than the textbook subject matter. The best ones inspire you to want to do something better for the world, to make a difference. The school's motto is Dum Vivimus Serviums - While We Live, We Serve. It really is the hallmark of the school. It's a large part of what makes PC, PC.

I am so very much looking forward to what this weekend brings. I had always heard that college was the best 4 years of your life. I never really believed that until I experienced PC. I look back over the last 10 years and often wish I had been allowed to remain forever inside the bubble just beyond the railroad tracks and the town square where people cared enough to encourage you to dream big, were there to inspire you to be better than you thought you could be, and dared you to do things you never thought possible. But, life goes on. They say you can't really ever go home again. My mind understands that going back won't be the same, but somewhere deep down, my heart is hoping this reunion finds me picking up with friends exactly where we left off - on the west plaza in front of Neville hugging, laughing, joking and crying each other through life. I love being a Blue Hose!