From 8/26/07

Memories
In June of this year I went to a reunion of college friends. It wasn't one of those class reunions celebrating the umpteenth year of graduation, it was totally different. I will explain the background and how we all got there.I attended Sul Ross State University in little ole Alpine, Texas. Alpine is located on Hiway 90, north of the Big Bend area of Texas, almost exactly half way between Del Rio and El Paso. Alpine thinks of itself as the gateway to the Big Bend; but, so do Marathon (30 miles east on 90) as does Marfa (25 miles west on 90). Of course I guess all three have the right to be THE gateway, depending on which of the three highways you take to get to the Big Bend.In previous posts on this blog I have discussed what made Alpine and Sul Ross different from other places where I have lived, in case you care to read them look at the first posts to my blog.Anyway, in early 2006, some of the members of the Sul Ross Phi Mu Fraternity for Women decided they wanted to have a reunion, so one of the members started banging away on her keyboard, searching day and night for their lost members. As she starting bringing them back into the fold the excitement started growing. The Phi Mus wanted to bring their husbands and the husbands wanted to bring their friends. Anyway the group grew fairly large and we wound up having a reunion in San Antonio in the summer of 2006. It was such fun that everyone wanted to do it again.Having a full year to look for people, many others got into the act and we wound up finding almost 500 people (wanting to be contacted) that attended Sul Ross from the late 1960's to the mid 1970's. Many others decided that they did not want to be contacted for one reason or another. Anyway, we now claim around 500 members of the "Kickers and Cat-Daddies Baby Boomers of Sul Ross".The 2007 reunion was held at the Holiday Inn El Tropicano Hotel in San Antonio with about 300 people in attendance. I can use only one word for the get together, and that is FANTABULOUS!It made me realize just how wonderful the people were that I attended Sul Ross with. Through the years I had always wondered what my life would have been like if I could have afforded to go to one of the larger, big name, universities. At the time I thought a college was a college, but as I grew older I realized that when asked where I went to college the reaction was always Sul What????? Now I am old enough to understand that the name of the college is not important. It is what you learn there that makes your life different. It might be academics, or it just might be life experiences that make the difference.At the time we were all just trying to get through school and get on with life. We failed to understand that what we were doing then was living life, and that anything after that would never measure up. If only I had slowed down and spent more time getting to know more people and making a larger circle of friends .The years I spent there were full of important happenings in the world (1968 to 1972). The draft lottery was put in place and I remember a classmate groaning and lying prostrate on the floor when he realized his birth date was lottery number one. During that period the U.S. invaded Cambodia with the resulting killing of the students at Kent State. We placed a man on the moon. Demonstrations were held nationwide against the war. The first Earth Day was held. There was a nationwide moratorium against the war. While the world was spinning almost out of control, there we were in Alpine being touched oh so slightly by the whirlwind. I spent my four years taking care of the Lobo Wolf mascot, being a cheerleader for two years and Student Government President.I worked hard in attempting to bring the students together to work towards getting more student rights on campus. I knew everyone, yet I truly knew no one. We all had our little group of friends that we traveled with. If only I had widened that circle.When I walked into that reunion in San Antonio, and saw those "kids" I had not seen in 37 years I felt like I was in a time warp. The hair was grayer, waistlines had mostly expanded and there were some wrinkles I did not remember, but the smiles were the same, and the voices were the same. Most of all the hearts were the same, so full of love and friendship.Many of my fraternity brothers from Alpha Kappa Lambda were there and it was good to be back with them. I never realized just how much I missed all those folks from Sul Ross; and I suddenly knew that if I had gone to one of those big name schools, I would have only know between 5 and 10 people and we would never have had those sweet times in our memories.Because Alpine was stuck so far out in the middle of nowhere, we all had to pull together and because of that there is a bonding unlike anything I have ever seen.I have to relate two stories from that reunion. I know that many people have by now heard this first one. One of the guys that played football for Sul Ross when I was there, had been asked to leave the school after getting into one too many fights. Mike Flynt had always regretted that and grieved over not being able to play his senior year. During this reunion his football buddies were talking about how the team had a really bad season after he left. That is when he admitted his grief for letting the team down. One of his team mates suggested that he probably had eligibility left and he was in such great shape he should check it out. Long story short, he did check, he fas one year left to use only at Sul Ross.Mike Flynt went back to Sul Ross, tried out for the team and made it. The first game is Saturday, September1, in Seguin, Texas, against Texas Lutheran. Check the story here.The second story is about sitting down and talking to one of the fellows who was a few years older than me and several classes ahead of me... He is the one who made me realize how I should have slowed down the process of getting through school and spent more time living the moment. I knew RJ as being witty and quite the ladies man, but I did not know he was literate, eloquent and one hell of a philosopher. During our process of finding our friends through the internet we discovered that he had written a book a couple of years ago called The Coon Dog Chronicles. If you want to read a wonderful book of poems and remembrances you can order the book here.