This past weekend I decided to attend Adrian College's homecoming celebration. This was the first time I had been back on campus for sometime and I was looking forward to seeing some of my old friends and checking out a campus that has seen some changes over the last couple of years.I started off by just wandering around, looking at some buildings that had not changed in the 20 years since I had went there as well as at those that did not even exist last time I was on campus. The most radical change had to be the addition of an on campus football stadium and ice arena. The rink was beautiful, as was the stadium. It was amazing seeing the kind of activity the football field attracted as there were many people there hours before the evening's football game, happily tailgating in the parking lot. The ice rink was hosting a hockey game and while I would have liked to have watched, I had places to be and people to see.
I next went to the ATO house to see my fraternity brothers. I was a bit frustrated by the fact that the house was missing their letters. I voiced this to the brothers i met inside, insisting that they find a way to display the letters that were common to all of us. They gave excuses but hey, they are college kids with far more important agendas than that which I might have.
I was the first one that day to visit the house and all the guys there were very kind and receptive to my invasion. The house was clean, and the guys seemed comfortable there. I was hoping to find some of my other brothers, guys I shared my college years with, but no one had shown and there was no anticipation of any showing up. After hanging out for about 30 minutes I decided to wander off again, heading over to the student center.
This building used to be the old Gynasium and I was surprised to see the renovations that had occurred. It was now a beautiful student center with study rooms (cleverly made out of the old press boxes), a new big, bright book store, a Quiznos sub shop (I would have never expected that) and even a fully functioning salon that offered hair cuts, manicures and tanning beds. I was really a suprise. WHile there I ran in to a lady who had worked at the snack bar at Adrian while I had been there. She remembered me and it was really nice speaking to her.
After checking out the student center I wandered over to the new communication building and was happy to see my old friends Sheri and Peter Bleam. Sheri has always been a mentor to me and I was happy to hear that her husband, Pete, had gotten his doctorate and was now a professor in the communication department as well. I got to see the new building with the beautiful new classrooms and television studio. It was simply amazing how far the department has come since I was there. In additon to seeing Sheri I got to see an old friend, Sue Hobe, who I used to hang out with when I was a freshman. She was always a sweetheart and while I've lost contact with her I've always wanted to re-establish our connection so I could stay up with what she is up to. I also got to see a few other friends while there and really enjoyed every minute of it.
After the communication department reception I headed back over to the ATO house and was able to reconnect with my brother, Wes Tapp and his wife and family. Wes has always been a good friend, even standing up in my wedding as I did so in his. It was nice to visit with him and Saralynn. I was able to talk with another of the current brothers and help him with recreating some of the fraternal family trees. I enjoyed thinking back but realized just how many of my memories have fled. I'm going to have to dig through the attack at Mom's house to see if I can find some of my odl ATO stuff to hopefully help me remember. I just love thinking back to my years at Adrian.
I've made up my mind that I am going to try to work with the current brothers to see about bringing back as many of my old brothers as I can next year. I really miss them and would love to re-establish with many of them
At about 6:00 I decided it was about time to get going to I said goodbye to everyone and took one more walk across campus. I still miss my days there and wish they never would have ended. I do know that given the opportunity I will go back more often, if anything just to reconnect with the place that meant so much to me 20 years ago.
3 comments:
I was wondering who made the trip this year.
I don't know that I'll ever be at another homecoming, but I'd love to re-connect with some of the old gang. Just this past spring I got to hang out with Dave Darke a bit and it was awfully nice. One of these days, you and I'll have to figure out how to do the same.
Not many made the trip. Scott Wagoner, Wes Tapp, Eric Bach, and Joe Cassar were the only old timers I actually saw. There may have been others, but I doubt it. I know Dan Spencer wanted to come, but he had a wedding to attend. I was a bit disappointed. I think I am going to try to track down as many people as I can and try to get something planned for next year. I didn't realize until I got there just how much I missed everyone.
I was talking to one of the actives and he is trying to come up with the family trees going back to the BLS days. If you have any information regarding your tree, let me know. I would love to help the kid out. It would be nice to have all that stuff recorded.
Here's my opinion about homecoming (and you never coming back). Don't let other people's feelings ever stop you from doing what you want. You've already found the courage to become who you really are, and that is a huge accomplishment. If others can't accept you for who you are, then that is their weakness, not yours. Don't let their inability to be accepting affect what you want to do.
That said, I would love to get together again and just sit down for a couple of hours like the good old days. Until that happens I guess I'll just have to be happy with email.
Thank God for e-mail! We should use it more often.
I could go on at length about the vagaries and my past versus my future, but the short version is this: I agree with you, but my attachment to Adrian College was always about the people, and I had abandoned Homecoming long before I decided to transition, simply because the people I had associations with had largely stopped attending themselves.
I really do want ATO to thrive and prosper, though, even if I don't know the current membership. As an alumnus, you'd think I'd contribute to that in some way. I haven't given it much thought, but maybe there's a way to re-define my association with the fraternity that doesn't violate my understanding of myself and their understanding of brotherhood.
FYI, my big brother was John Fike, and my littles were Matt Gwinn and Carl Epps. Matt's littles were Mitch Walinski and John Sturtevant. I'm not 100% sure past that point.
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