"What happens in Parkersburg, stays in Parkersburg!"
I just came back from my Junior College reunion and I had such a great time I wanted to BLOG about it! One might think that to travel hundreds of miles to spend a weekend talking to people you haven’t seen or heard from in 20 years might be a little much. You know, how much small talk can you endure before you want to fly home? For me and four of my friends from our small college graduating class of sixty-something, it was an awesome experience we will not soon forget! It was magical to find that our two college years together formed a bond that time could not erase.
Our favorite saying throughout the weekend was a twist on the Vegas commercial: "What happens in Parkersburg, stays in Parkersburg!" The great thing is that we had fun and we were crazy, but there wasn’t anything we did that we shouldn’t or couldn’t tell, like those commercials imply. We remembered old times: good and bad. What would we like to do over? What do we wish never happened? We stayed up till 4:00 in the morning (AFTER the daylight savings adjustment!) experiencing the late night Mountain Dew buzz you would get pulling an all-nighter studying for a test. Although, instead of studying we caught up on each other’s lives and played some cards.
I know I went wondering how I would measure up after 20 years and I think we all brought a little bit of that with us. By the end of the weekend we felt accepted for the person we have become. We bragged on our children, shared stories about meeting our spouses and caught up on twenty years worth of what’s been going on in our lives.
Other highlights for me included singing in the Alumni chorus, sitting in a petrie dish, performing my first ever piano recital, meeting Major League Baseball players, sitting alone in an airport, reading two novels and finding the other sister. (Sorry, you had to be there.)
It was also a special treat to find so many of the teachers and staff from our days at NCJC. The reason this is unique is that our college doesn’t even exist anymore. When it closed down in the 90's, the school was joined with Ohio Valley College (just recently turned University). As Alumni we stay connected through OVU. I found out this weekend that they added the color red to their school colors to acknowledge NCJC. Some of the staff joined OVC and some moved on to other places. We were so happy to find many familiar faces that not only remembered us but embraced us. I wonder if they realize just how much they meant to us and what an impact they made in each of our lives. I would understand if teachers got tired of making the effort to get to know students for a short two years before saying goodbye. But they did not. They really cared and we love them for it. David and Allie Keller, Larry and Sarah Bills, Bill and Nancy Bowen: You mean more to us than you may ever know. There are many others who made a great impact that we did not have the pleasure of seeing this weekend - but don’t worry, we remembered you. And to our classmates that were not with us, we missed you and prayed for you.We molded old memories into new memories and hope that if you were in our class you will join us next time!
