I just wish it could have lasted longer...
...or, maybe been part of a longer vacation.
Well, it was what it was.
GREAT fuckin’ weekend. No other way to describe it.
Got up Thursday night, worked six hours instead of eight. But, my flight was at 7:45,
I could hardly have worked until seven, after all. Booked it out to Lindbergh, got there at a little before 5:30. A fair crowd at Terminal 2 at that hour on a Friday morning (and Good Friday at that; I swear, Easter Weekend is almost as big a travel weekend as Thanksgiving or right before Christmas. Took only a few minutes to get my bag checked in, thanks to online check-in. The crowd waiting to pass through security was a maze, though, winding back & forth through the front of the terminal & halfway down the Skywalk. Still, only about 45 minutes to get through, not bad. Figured it’d take a lot longer, the ticket agents told me back when I got my ticket that it was busy as hell at that hour, and, after all, TSA always touts allowing 3-4 hours just for check-in & getting through. Didn’t think it’d be that quick; but, then, the last time I flew was over Christmas of ’98, almost three years before 9/11.
Airport Wi-Fi sucks. Couldn’t even get online before my flight to Atlanta.
You forget how relaxing & enjoyable flying can be, if you’re not in a rush or pressed to get somewhere. The whole ‘no electronic devices below 10k feet’ thing is kinda ridiculous; but, once a rule’s in place, it doesn’t go away. Would be nice to listen to some power music during takeoff & landing, though.
In some ways, in-flight services have gotten ridiculous, but, in other ways, a lot better.
Ridiculous in that now you have to pay for meals in-flight, and the only free stuff is little snacks & drinks; but in-flight entertainment’s way up since ’98, with individual screens & the multitude of music & movie choices, to say nothing of realtime TV, online games, and in-flight internet.
And, amusing anecdote for you techno-geeks out there: Delta Airlines loves the Penguin!
Yep, the inflight entertainment apps are based on Linux (as attested to by the Penguin himself, appearing on the screen during a reboot of the on-board entertainment computer(s). (Twice. But, then again, suppose it was Windoze? $Deity!)
Lots of clouds over Texas, and what was with all the brushfires in rural eastern Alabama on Friday? There were over a half-dozen heavy smoke plumes (and, yeah, you could tell they were big smoke plumes, not clouds) coming up from the ground you could easily see at 35k + feet as we started descending into Atlanta.
Remind me next time I go to Calhoun to make sure I manage to renew my driver’s license. (Not that that’s easy when you don’t have a car; but I could have b4 Dina went back home last year.) There’s plenty of different shuttle services between Chattanooga & Atlanta, most of which don’t cost anymore than Greyhound (especially since Greyhound’s only stop between the two is in Dalton); but what passes for taxi service in Calhoun is ridiculous. Not that I’m amazed, it’s only a small-town county seat, and Dalton taxi services are ridiculously expensive by comparison; but most of what few taxi services there were for Gordon County are out of business, and all of them don’t speak English. In the Deep South, and all the taxi drivers speak Spanish? You need a translator just to order up a cab! (And allow plenty of time for it, too. What’s so hard to understand about “the La Quinta Inn at 75 & 53?” Takes them forever to find a major chain motel right off the interstate!)
Nice hotel, good service, excellent breakfast buffet there. You can’t smoke in the room(s), but, so be it. La Quinta’s always had a good rep; and if you’re ever in Calhoun, Georgia, I highly recommend it. (And, you want a really good deal, yeah, just use the sidebar ads in your browser. I normally don’t click those; but for this trip, I said ‘What the hell’ and clicked to check out the deals, and got two nights for the price of one (half-off, really; but, same thing, six of one, half-dozen of the other, You say To-may-to, I say to-mah-to, & all that.). A better discount than they allow for GCA Alumni Weekend. To say nothing of two free meals that’d otherwise cost you if you went to the Cracker Barrel next door or anywhere else.
Got out to the old school a little before 10:30, in plenty of time to register before the main church service. I was just too tired to attend vespers by the time I got to Calhoun. The Groome Shuttle from Hartsfield is reliable; but, again, getting the taxi once I got there (they stop at the Liberty “Fuel Center” (It’s not a truck stop, it’s little more than a gas station!) was ridiculous. The # LQ gave me for the cab company was out of service, & then getting another one where there’s few cabs, and the language barrier, oy. I just wanted to get some dinner, check my e-mail, & crash, I was up three hours past my usual bedtime (and I was on east coast time, too) as it was. Anway. I wish more of us could have made it this year; hell, gang, this WAS our 25TH! You gotta hit the bigger anniversaries. But, there were 12 of us there, including me. Todd, Sonia, Monique, Darryl, Dave Woodcock, Donna & her husband, Tim, Jamee (with her younger sisters in tow) Ava; & two of our non-grads, Bonnie & Steve. The usual butterflies in the stomach the first minute or two, and a few friends in other classes/faculty I didn’t get to bump elbows with for a couple of minutes (would have been nice to see Mrs. Kirk, if she’d been there, saw Fally Wox across the room a couple times, but he was alwas in a crowd over several others, so I didn’t get to say hello. They’ve got a great bunch of kids at GCA now. They’ve got a full ‘orchestra’ now, instead of just ‘band’, and Camerata (the elite choir group) is full of talent. More than a few well known Christian singers sprang from Camerata during our years, including Vonda Beerman & Jennifer LaMountain. When they called up old Camerata members from the alumni, I almost (yes, ALMOST) didn’t go up, I haven’t sung since those days); but, fate has mysterious ways. Just as I decided to stay put, who’s walking up but Todd. My roommate & best friend from those days; and now the school accountant and the girls’ teams’ coach. He & Tim, as well as Sam & Dave Dunlap, with their barbershop quartet. I still remember early sophomore year, when Todd would be winging some of Chicago’s music on the dorm chapel piano. Several of us would hang with him & sing. Silly me, I had a chance to be part of that quartet; but I was a little nervous about public singing in small groups (and there was no way I was going to solo!). Some of the others didn’t remember I was in Camerata during sophomore year, and we were all winging it, trying to read from the sheet music when none of us had sung in years; but, they’d remember the time during one Sabbath concert in south Georgia when we’d been standing for most of the service, and I forgot the girls were singing alone first on the last number & hit two notes before I realized we guys weren’t on & shut up. If I’d reminded them of that slightly embarrassing event, that is ;)
After the service, we wandered around the campus and then went down to the gym for lunch. A lot’s changed around the old school campus, but yet so much is still the same.
The church wasn’t there 15 years ago, when I was there for our 10th reunion. The wall that held the pictures of the classes of ’66 to ’84 hasn’t changed; but, 15 years ago, our class was the first on the wall on the other side of the main classroom building, and it was at the end of the hall right at the top of the stairs before you went into the library. Now, the years from ’85 to present start at the other end of the hall & work their way back.
Litch’s old office is now the ‘guidance’ office, and the chaplain’s office is now set in the lounge outside the inner library. The library itself hasn’t changed much. Many, SOOOO many good memories still live in those halls. The chapel’s still there, mostly used for music practice, since the rehearsal room in the music building can’t accommodate band & choir at the same time, and with the actual church right next door to the old chapel!
And speaking of the church, the locals seem to me to get torn between going to Calhoun church & the school church, the old Calhoun church on Highway 53 that was modeled off the OAA/Gentry AR church was razed sometime in the last 15 years, and the new church is right at the turnoff from spur 53 onto Academy Drive! Why so close together?
The old fountain was really just a dead ‘planter’ back then is actually a new and working fountain now, and there’s another one down on the ‘quad’ by the campus flagpole, there’s benches along all the sidwalk footpaths, and the old brick-wall ‘benches’ that used to be around the flagpole are long gone.
One thing I really like is how they’ve created a small brick path in the center of the sidewalk leading to the flagpole that’s actually a memorial to students and faculty who’ve passed. Dawn Patton has a brick there, and Kathy Hutchinson; as do Mr. Basham, and Sandy Raitz, among others, and a couple we didn’t know had passed until Tim & I saw their bricks: Grady Shaver & Eric Hope. No one knows what happened to Eric, rumor has it Grady died on active duty.
Back then, the ad building & the dorms had a concrete grill design over the 2nd floor front/center of the buildings. Now, those are gone, and the library windows are open to view the outside. The boys’ dean’s office is now where part of the dorm lounge used to be, and both the boys’ & girls’ dorms have terraces on the 2nd floor(s) where those grills used to front the dorm tv rooms. Speaking of deans, Dean Jenks was there for alumni weekend in ’95, now, according to his FB account, he and his wife are in the Sudan.
Karla Reel (nee Peck)’s dad, was there, standing in for her, as it were, and she and her husdband have been in Guam for the last year. Dawn’s parents were both there, but I missed seeing them. Would’ve been nice, they can use all the comfort they can, as they’re getting up in years, and Dawn’s older brother, Troy, had a heart attack early last week, according to Sonia.
So, as fate would have it, in the midst of my wandering around campus, as we slowly made our way around, just looking & taking pictures, Jamee & I teamed up again. Ah, Jamee. One of us who’d fallen off the face of the earth, so to speak, over the last 20+ years. Sonia knew she was around the general area, so I found out a while after ’95, but she was just busy and no one was really keeping track. Until she popped up on FB. Still as lovely as ever. We had a little thing for each other, early in junior year, but, there were circumstances in her past better not discussed, and the scrutiny of the rest of our small school community sure didn’t make things easy! But, we were callow teenagers in a sheltered church school environment, what did we know about relationships? Ah, the difference a quarter century of adulthood makes, especially when there’s some residual embers from the old days. Three nice kid sisters now, a handful for her, but nice, and sweet kids. Everybody else was talking & eating, and there’s the two of us, off eating & talking by ourselves amongst the crowd. Neither of us can deny it, there’s still something there. I had the feeling, not too long back, especially considering just how well all the work, planning, and saving for this little trip down memory lane came together since the beginning of the year, that either I was in for a visit from our old friend ‘Murphy’ and his law, or, on the flip side of the coin, there was something that was meant to happen while I was there, something that could potentially change the course of things for me. It seems that latter just might actually be true. I’ve been wanting excuses to move back east, to a more affordable part of the country, where I could pick up on my genealogical research (LOTS of Disheroons in northern Georgia, hell, there’s a Disheroon Lake and Disheroon Mountain in the northeastern part of the state!), and a lot of family history there; and I wouldn’t mind getting away from this over-priced tourist trap rich-nik developers’ dream of over-condominiumism and potential for either an earthquake disaster area or terrorist ground-zero on the Mexican border for somewhere that feels equally, or much moreso, like home. The potential’s there for us, I think. And it deserves exploring. There’s no question we’ve got more than a little residual affection, itching to blossom into something more than what might have been back then. She’s still a wonderful lady, and it would be awesome to spend a fair sight more time together. Who knows? We’ll see. If something’s meant to be… but the two of us, just coming back together, this time of all times, after all the other times we missed, both of us feeling the need, the draw to come back to visit this time, of all times… the theme of the weekend was ‘Journeys’, and who’s to say that destiny’s not at work behind the scenes here? Who knows? We’ll see…
But, damn, it was GOOD to see her again! I really hope we’ll have some better opportunities somewhere down the road, in the not too distant future…
Just as it was good to see all the others, and to spend the rest of the day tripping down Memory Lane, and then wrap up with the traditional Alumni-All Stars games (and Alumni whipping the pants off the All-Stars softball team!) Unless you had time on Friday for the golf game and/or vespers, or the Sunday morning motorcycle ride up in the mountains, all we had was just the day. Makes you wish you had a little more time, especially if you’re coming from a long way off, I spent as much time traveling Friday & Sunday as I spent in Calhoun!
And so, to Sunday, to just a casual but very long travel day. I couldn’t sleep past five in the morning (two in the morning, on the west coast!), got up, FB’ed & posted the pics I took (like everyone else, already doing the same), had one more hearty free breakfast courtesy of the hotel, and checked out for the long trip back. Killed some time at the ‘truck stop’ waiting for the Groome shuttle, just sitting in a small southern country hang-out, drinking coffee & reading the Sunday paper, wishing I had a little time to play ‘tourist’ in Atlanta, snap some pictures of the local landmarks from the freeway, or while away a few hours at Stone Mountain Park. But, my flight was leaving a little before seven, and TSA says arrive for check-in 3-4 hours before your departure; and this was Hartsfield we’re talking about! I had no idea what trying to get through check-in would be like, let alone through security, at the world’s busiest airport, the last time I passed through there was almost three years before 9/11, and then, there was just one central walk-through metal scanner for the whole of all outbound travelers before you went down the ‘Four Walls Over Atlanta’ escalator to the terminals. I hadn’t seen the security station when I arrived Friday, or the check-in areas ( even though they’re just down the terminal from baggage claim). I spent 45 minutes in one long line to pass through one of three stations at Lindbergh’s Terminal 2, and holeee cow! I couldn’t believe how quickly and efficiently you can get through at Hartsfield, even on a busy travel day like that! A matter of minutes, they’ve got things well organized and work like a well-oiled machine! A tip of the hat to the hard-working (and doubtless underpaid) TSA agents at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, who get you through smartly and without sacrificing that friendly attitude the Deep South is so known for.
And speaking of the South. I had a hankering for some southern-style praline candy when I was in Atlanta back in ’95, and since I had the time, I made some time to tour around Stone Mountain back then and pick up some souveniers; but, unlike back in the ‘80s, you couldn’t find one old-fashioned praline anywhere in the park! And not a one at Hartsfield, either. Now, however, they’re back! A little Southern taste of heaven, right in the airport. Had to grab a few, a couple for me and some to share with my crew back here, especially for the ones who also hail from Georgia.
And, more reasons why Hartsfield is still the most efficient, friendliest, and busiest airport in the world, and why it doesn’t belong anywhere but Atlanta.
The Four Walls as you descend to the transportation mall are unchanged, after all these years. The subway still runs as smoothly as when it opened 30 years ago (and now MARTA has a station there, right outside & above baggage claim, unlike 25 years ago when you had to bus in from the end of the rail line at Fort McPherson). There was an outstanding Kenyan art display of paintings & statues along the transportation concourse between the international terminal and Delta terminal A, that I got to enjoy as I strolled down the moving walkway. Central food court & tourist convenience store right at the entry to the terminal at the top of the escalators, with a great view of the planes between Terminals A & B. And, for those of us who smoke, there’s even a smoking lounge on the top floor of the terminal. Ain’t no such thing as that in progressive California, and certainly not at Lindbergh Field! Once you’re through security here, no nic fix for you until after you’ve exited the airport at your destination.
Though, again, Airport Wi-Fi sucks. That’s the only negative. Lindbergh, I couldn’t get a strong enough signal. Ditto for Hartsfield’s free network. Though, of course, they offer a strong signal WiFi network, if you’re willing to pay for it (at rates comparable to Delta’s in-flight WiFi, that is! Ouch! I don’t think so!)
And, then, Murphy, fate, or something like it was at work again.
Unknown to those of us at Hartsfield packing onto that Delta 767 for Lindbergh Field yesterday, there was that 6.9 (later upgraded to 7.2) quake epicentered in Baja, not too away, that hit while we were boarding (and that shook the heebee jeebies out of all our guests where I work, which was all everyone could talk about when I got to work last night!) We’re boarded up and ready for push-back.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We’ve just received word that there’s just been a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in San Diego. We’ve been advised that Lindbergh Field is now closed. We don’t know what kind of delay we’re looking at, so we’re going to bring the jetway back in, and you’re free to use your cellphones to…” and the rest, ladies and gentlemen, was drowned out by the sounds of every other passenger grabbing their cellphones and calling home.. ”It’s not still April Fool’s Day, is it?” (Now, is that something you want to hear from your flight’s captain? I ask you.) Fortunately, less than five minutes later, we learned that Lindbergh was open again, and we were on our way home.
Only drawback to the end of the trip was I couldn’t sleep worth shit on the flight back; you really just can’t sleep in flight, between the hubbub of the cabin, flight attendants passing through with drinks & snacks every few minutes, and the noise from the engines.
I finally got home with barely an hour to get ready for work; at least, living on the first floor meant nothing fell off the walls, shelves, table, or counters to break into pieces, no mess for me to clean up in the wake of the quake that could’ve delayed us indefinitely at Hartsfield, but thankfully didn’t.
All the coffee in the world barely kept me alive through the night last night, from the time I landed through the trip home and a full night’s worth of work of re-auditing everything done since Friday morning & prepping for tonight’s shift, barely alive enough to keep from falling asleep on the job and awake until I could fall into my own bed for the first time in four nights, after being awake for 30 hours (ignoring maybe 2 hours of fitful catnapping during the return flight).
But, still, a damned great weekend.
One damned GREAT weekend.
Well, it was what it was.
GREAT fuckin’ weekend. No other way to describe it.
Got up Thursday night, worked six hours instead of eight. But, my flight was at 7:45,
I could hardly have worked until seven, after all. Booked it out to Lindbergh, got there at a little before 5:30. A fair crowd at Terminal 2 at that hour on a Friday morning (and Good Friday at that; I swear, Easter Weekend is almost as big a travel weekend as Thanksgiving or right before Christmas. Took only a few minutes to get my bag checked in, thanks to online check-in. The crowd waiting to pass through security was a maze, though, winding back & forth through the front of the terminal & halfway down the Skywalk. Still, only about 45 minutes to get through, not bad. Figured it’d take a lot longer, the ticket agents told me back when I got my ticket that it was busy as hell at that hour, and, after all, TSA always touts allowing 3-4 hours just for check-in & getting through. Didn’t think it’d be that quick; but, then, the last time I flew was over Christmas of ’98, almost three years before 9/11.
Airport Wi-Fi sucks. Couldn’t even get online before my flight to Atlanta.
You forget how relaxing & enjoyable flying can be, if you’re not in a rush or pressed to get somewhere. The whole ‘no electronic devices below 10k feet’ thing is kinda ridiculous; but, once a rule’s in place, it doesn’t go away. Would be nice to listen to some power music during takeoff & landing, though.
In some ways, in-flight services have gotten ridiculous, but, in other ways, a lot better.
Ridiculous in that now you have to pay for meals in-flight, and the only free stuff is little snacks & drinks; but in-flight entertainment’s way up since ’98, with individual screens & the multitude of music & movie choices, to say nothing of realtime TV, online games, and in-flight internet.
And, amusing anecdote for you techno-geeks out there: Delta Airlines loves the Penguin!
Yep, the inflight entertainment apps are based on Linux (as attested to by the Penguin himself, appearing on the screen during a reboot of the on-board entertainment computer(s). (Twice. But, then again, suppose it was Windoze? $Deity!)
Lots of clouds over Texas, and what was with all the brushfires in rural eastern Alabama on Friday? There were over a half-dozen heavy smoke plumes (and, yeah, you could tell they were big smoke plumes, not clouds) coming up from the ground you could easily see at 35k + feet as we started descending into Atlanta.
Remind me next time I go to Calhoun to make sure I manage to renew my driver’s license. (Not that that’s easy when you don’t have a car; but I could have b4 Dina went back home last year.) There’s plenty of different shuttle services between Chattanooga & Atlanta, most of which don’t cost anymore than Greyhound (especially since Greyhound’s only stop between the two is in Dalton); but what passes for taxi service in Calhoun is ridiculous. Not that I’m amazed, it’s only a small-town county seat, and Dalton taxi services are ridiculously expensive by comparison; but most of what few taxi services there were for Gordon County are out of business, and all of them don’t speak English. In the Deep South, and all the taxi drivers speak Spanish? You need a translator just to order up a cab! (And allow plenty of time for it, too. What’s so hard to understand about “the La Quinta Inn at 75 & 53?” Takes them forever to find a major chain motel right off the interstate!)
Nice hotel, good service, excellent breakfast buffet there. You can’t smoke in the room(s), but, so be it. La Quinta’s always had a good rep; and if you’re ever in Calhoun, Georgia, I highly recommend it. (And, you want a really good deal, yeah, just use the sidebar ads in your browser. I normally don’t click those; but for this trip, I said ‘What the hell’ and clicked to check out the deals, and got two nights for the price of one (half-off, really; but, same thing, six of one, half-dozen of the other, You say To-may-to, I say to-mah-to, & all that.). A better discount than they allow for GCA Alumni Weekend. To say nothing of two free meals that’d otherwise cost you if you went to the Cracker Barrel next door or anywhere else.
Got out to the old school a little before 10:30, in plenty of time to register before the main church service. I was just too tired to attend vespers by the time I got to Calhoun. The Groome Shuttle from Hartsfield is reliable; but, again, getting the taxi once I got there (they stop at the Liberty “Fuel Center” (It’s not a truck stop, it’s little more than a gas station!) was ridiculous. The # LQ gave me for the cab company was out of service, & then getting another one where there’s few cabs, and the language barrier, oy. I just wanted to get some dinner, check my e-mail, & crash, I was up three hours past my usual bedtime (and I was on east coast time, too) as it was. Anway. I wish more of us could have made it this year; hell, gang, this WAS our 25TH! You gotta hit the bigger anniversaries. But, there were 12 of us there, including me. Todd, Sonia, Monique, Darryl, Dave Woodcock, Donna & her husband, Tim, Jamee (with her younger sisters in tow) Ava; & two of our non-grads, Bonnie & Steve. The usual butterflies in the stomach the first minute or two, and a few friends in other classes/faculty I didn’t get to bump elbows with for a couple of minutes (would have been nice to see Mrs. Kirk, if she’d been there, saw Fally Wox across the room a couple times, but he was alwas in a crowd over several others, so I didn’t get to say hello. They’ve got a great bunch of kids at GCA now. They’ve got a full ‘orchestra’ now, instead of just ‘band’, and Camerata (the elite choir group) is full of talent. More than a few well known Christian singers sprang from Camerata during our years, including Vonda Beerman & Jennifer LaMountain. When they called up old Camerata members from the alumni, I almost (yes, ALMOST) didn’t go up, I haven’t sung since those days); but, fate has mysterious ways. Just as I decided to stay put, who’s walking up but Todd. My roommate & best friend from those days; and now the school accountant and the girls’ teams’ coach. He & Tim, as well as Sam & Dave Dunlap, with their barbershop quartet. I still remember early sophomore year, when Todd would be winging some of Chicago’s music on the dorm chapel piano. Several of us would hang with him & sing. Silly me, I had a chance to be part of that quartet; but I was a little nervous about public singing in small groups (and there was no way I was going to solo!). Some of the others didn’t remember I was in Camerata during sophomore year, and we were all winging it, trying to read from the sheet music when none of us had sung in years; but, they’d remember the time during one Sabbath concert in south Georgia when we’d been standing for most of the service, and I forgot the girls were singing alone first on the last number & hit two notes before I realized we guys weren’t on & shut up. If I’d reminded them of that slightly embarrassing event, that is ;)
After the service, we wandered around the campus and then went down to the gym for lunch. A lot’s changed around the old school campus, but yet so much is still the same.
The church wasn’t there 15 years ago, when I was there for our 10th reunion. The wall that held the pictures of the classes of ’66 to ’84 hasn’t changed; but, 15 years ago, our class was the first on the wall on the other side of the main classroom building, and it was at the end of the hall right at the top of the stairs before you went into the library. Now, the years from ’85 to present start at the other end of the hall & work their way back.
Litch’s old office is now the ‘guidance’ office, and the chaplain’s office is now set in the lounge outside the inner library. The library itself hasn’t changed much. Many, SOOOO many good memories still live in those halls. The chapel’s still there, mostly used for music practice, since the rehearsal room in the music building can’t accommodate band & choir at the same time, and with the actual church right next door to the old chapel!
And speaking of the church, the locals seem to me to get torn between going to Calhoun church & the school church, the old Calhoun church on Highway 53 that was modeled off the OAA/Gentry AR church was razed sometime in the last 15 years, and the new church is right at the turnoff from spur 53 onto Academy Drive! Why so close together?
The old fountain was really just a dead ‘planter’ back then is actually a new and working fountain now, and there’s another one down on the ‘quad’ by the campus flagpole, there’s benches along all the sidwalk footpaths, and the old brick-wall ‘benches’ that used to be around the flagpole are long gone.
One thing I really like is how they’ve created a small brick path in the center of the sidewalk leading to the flagpole that’s actually a memorial to students and faculty who’ve passed. Dawn Patton has a brick there, and Kathy Hutchinson; as do Mr. Basham, and Sandy Raitz, among others, and a couple we didn’t know had passed until Tim & I saw their bricks: Grady Shaver & Eric Hope. No one knows what happened to Eric, rumor has it Grady died on active duty.
Back then, the ad building & the dorms had a concrete grill design over the 2nd floor front/center of the buildings. Now, those are gone, and the library windows are open to view the outside. The boys’ dean’s office is now where part of the dorm lounge used to be, and both the boys’ & girls’ dorms have terraces on the 2nd floor(s) where those grills used to front the dorm tv rooms. Speaking of deans, Dean Jenks was there for alumni weekend in ’95, now, according to his FB account, he and his wife are in the Sudan.
Karla Reel (nee Peck)’s dad, was there, standing in for her, as it were, and she and her husdband have been in Guam for the last year. Dawn’s parents were both there, but I missed seeing them. Would’ve been nice, they can use all the comfort they can, as they’re getting up in years, and Dawn’s older brother, Troy, had a heart attack early last week, according to Sonia.
So, as fate would have it, in the midst of my wandering around campus, as we slowly made our way around, just looking & taking pictures, Jamee & I teamed up again. Ah, Jamee. One of us who’d fallen off the face of the earth, so to speak, over the last 20+ years. Sonia knew she was around the general area, so I found out a while after ’95, but she was just busy and no one was really keeping track. Until she popped up on FB. Still as lovely as ever. We had a little thing for each other, early in junior year, but, there were circumstances in her past better not discussed, and the scrutiny of the rest of our small school community sure didn’t make things easy! But, we were callow teenagers in a sheltered church school environment, what did we know about relationships? Ah, the difference a quarter century of adulthood makes, especially when there’s some residual embers from the old days. Three nice kid sisters now, a handful for her, but nice, and sweet kids. Everybody else was talking & eating, and there’s the two of us, off eating & talking by ourselves amongst the crowd. Neither of us can deny it, there’s still something there. I had the feeling, not too long back, especially considering just how well all the work, planning, and saving for this little trip down memory lane came together since the beginning of the year, that either I was in for a visit from our old friend ‘Murphy’ and his law, or, on the flip side of the coin, there was something that was meant to happen while I was there, something that could potentially change the course of things for me. It seems that latter just might actually be true. I’ve been wanting excuses to move back east, to a more affordable part of the country, where I could pick up on my genealogical research (LOTS of Disheroons in northern Georgia, hell, there’s a Disheroon Lake and Disheroon Mountain in the northeastern part of the state!), and a lot of family history there; and I wouldn’t mind getting away from this over-priced tourist trap rich-nik developers’ dream of over-condominiumism and potential for either an earthquake disaster area or terrorist ground-zero on the Mexican border for somewhere that feels equally, or much moreso, like home. The potential’s there for us, I think. And it deserves exploring. There’s no question we’ve got more than a little residual affection, itching to blossom into something more than what might have been back then. She’s still a wonderful lady, and it would be awesome to spend a fair sight more time together. Who knows? We’ll see. If something’s meant to be… but the two of us, just coming back together, this time of all times, after all the other times we missed, both of us feeling the need, the draw to come back to visit this time, of all times… the theme of the weekend was ‘Journeys’, and who’s to say that destiny’s not at work behind the scenes here? Who knows? We’ll see…
But, damn, it was GOOD to see her again! I really hope we’ll have some better opportunities somewhere down the road, in the not too distant future…
Just as it was good to see all the others, and to spend the rest of the day tripping down Memory Lane, and then wrap up with the traditional Alumni-All Stars games (and Alumni whipping the pants off the All-Stars softball team!) Unless you had time on Friday for the golf game and/or vespers, or the Sunday morning motorcycle ride up in the mountains, all we had was just the day. Makes you wish you had a little more time, especially if you’re coming from a long way off, I spent as much time traveling Friday & Sunday as I spent in Calhoun!
And so, to Sunday, to just a casual but very long travel day. I couldn’t sleep past five in the morning (two in the morning, on the west coast!), got up, FB’ed & posted the pics I took (like everyone else, already doing the same), had one more hearty free breakfast courtesy of the hotel, and checked out for the long trip back. Killed some time at the ‘truck stop’ waiting for the Groome shuttle, just sitting in a small southern country hang-out, drinking coffee & reading the Sunday paper, wishing I had a little time to play ‘tourist’ in Atlanta, snap some pictures of the local landmarks from the freeway, or while away a few hours at Stone Mountain Park. But, my flight was leaving a little before seven, and TSA says arrive for check-in 3-4 hours before your departure; and this was Hartsfield we’re talking about! I had no idea what trying to get through check-in would be like, let alone through security, at the world’s busiest airport, the last time I passed through there was almost three years before 9/11, and then, there was just one central walk-through metal scanner for the whole of all outbound travelers before you went down the ‘Four Walls Over Atlanta’ escalator to the terminals. I hadn’t seen the security station when I arrived Friday, or the check-in areas ( even though they’re just down the terminal from baggage claim). I spent 45 minutes in one long line to pass through one of three stations at Lindbergh’s Terminal 2, and holeee cow! I couldn’t believe how quickly and efficiently you can get through at Hartsfield, even on a busy travel day like that! A matter of minutes, they’ve got things well organized and work like a well-oiled machine! A tip of the hat to the hard-working (and doubtless underpaid) TSA agents at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, who get you through smartly and without sacrificing that friendly attitude the Deep South is so known for.
And speaking of the South. I had a hankering for some southern-style praline candy when I was in Atlanta back in ’95, and since I had the time, I made some time to tour around Stone Mountain back then and pick up some souveniers; but, unlike back in the ‘80s, you couldn’t find one old-fashioned praline anywhere in the park! And not a one at Hartsfield, either. Now, however, they’re back! A little Southern taste of heaven, right in the airport. Had to grab a few, a couple for me and some to share with my crew back here, especially for the ones who also hail from Georgia.
And, more reasons why Hartsfield is still the most efficient, friendliest, and busiest airport in the world, and why it doesn’t belong anywhere but Atlanta.
The Four Walls as you descend to the transportation mall are unchanged, after all these years. The subway still runs as smoothly as when it opened 30 years ago (and now MARTA has a station there, right outside & above baggage claim, unlike 25 years ago when you had to bus in from the end of the rail line at Fort McPherson). There was an outstanding Kenyan art display of paintings & statues along the transportation concourse between the international terminal and Delta terminal A, that I got to enjoy as I strolled down the moving walkway. Central food court & tourist convenience store right at the entry to the terminal at the top of the escalators, with a great view of the planes between Terminals A & B. And, for those of us who smoke, there’s even a smoking lounge on the top floor of the terminal. Ain’t no such thing as that in progressive California, and certainly not at Lindbergh Field! Once you’re through security here, no nic fix for you until after you’ve exited the airport at your destination.
Though, again, Airport Wi-Fi sucks. That’s the only negative. Lindbergh, I couldn’t get a strong enough signal. Ditto for Hartsfield’s free network. Though, of course, they offer a strong signal WiFi network, if you’re willing to pay for it (at rates comparable to Delta’s in-flight WiFi, that is! Ouch! I don’t think so!)
And, then, Murphy, fate, or something like it was at work again.
Unknown to those of us at Hartsfield packing onto that Delta 767 for Lindbergh Field yesterday, there was that 6.9 (later upgraded to 7.2) quake epicentered in Baja, not too away, that hit while we were boarding (and that shook the heebee jeebies out of all our guests where I work, which was all everyone could talk about when I got to work last night!) We’re boarded up and ready for push-back.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We’ve just received word that there’s just been a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in San Diego. We’ve been advised that Lindbergh Field is now closed. We don’t know what kind of delay we’re looking at, so we’re going to bring the jetway back in, and you’re free to use your cellphones to…” and the rest, ladies and gentlemen, was drowned out by the sounds of every other passenger grabbing their cellphones and calling home.. ”It’s not still April Fool’s Day, is it?” (Now, is that something you want to hear from your flight’s captain? I ask you.) Fortunately, less than five minutes later, we learned that Lindbergh was open again, and we were on our way home.
Only drawback to the end of the trip was I couldn’t sleep worth shit on the flight back; you really just can’t sleep in flight, between the hubbub of the cabin, flight attendants passing through with drinks & snacks every few minutes, and the noise from the engines.
I finally got home with barely an hour to get ready for work; at least, living on the first floor meant nothing fell off the walls, shelves, table, or counters to break into pieces, no mess for me to clean up in the wake of the quake that could’ve delayed us indefinitely at Hartsfield, but thankfully didn’t.
All the coffee in the world barely kept me alive through the night last night, from the time I landed through the trip home and a full night’s worth of work of re-auditing everything done since Friday morning & prepping for tonight’s shift, barely alive enough to keep from falling asleep on the job and awake until I could fall into my own bed for the first time in four nights, after being awake for 30 hours (ignoring maybe 2 hours of fitful catnapping during the return flight).
But, still, a damned great weekend.
One damned GREAT weekend.