Monday, August 01, 2005

Remember When

Submitted by a longtime and loyal reader of Worldclassglass from Mobile.

Remember When

Oxford is unique. It's the only place I know where sofas belong on front porches, golf visors are worn at night, and Waffle House has a waiting list.

Ole Miss is about much more than classes, it's an experience that you will treasure your entire life. What is it about Oxford that gets in your blood and intoxicates you with its sweet Southern comfort?

Maybe it's the beauty of the Grove and the way it feels to sit on its grass and halfway study before that big test. Or could be....piling in a jeep with six of your friends and riding around town on a sunny afternoon heading out to Sardis....catching your favorite local band downtown and knowing one day soon they'll be famous....hanging out on the porch of City Grocery until sundown on Friday....spending more time trying to figure out the library than you do actually researching....scanning the Oxford Town to see who got a DUI, and laughing at the guy who was arrested for singing Dixie in his boxers drunk on a roof....stopping and realizing when you're out with your best friends that these people are the people that will one day be in your wedding.

I never realized how much a T-shirt could hold when it spoke of Oxford, saying, it'll "get in your blood and stay forever". Maybe it's the football games, finding a date, dressing up, trying to stomach a Beam and coke at 9 a.m. after a Friday night that began at Proud Larry's happy hour, and recognizing that same excitement in the eyes of older alumni who keep coming back year after year, joining their old friends and hoping to catch a glimpse of their youthful times at Ole Miss.

Our time there was short, but we made the best of it. We were only there four or five years (some people six or seven, if they knew how to work their parents). Now we're making road trips TO Oxford instead of FROM it, joining our old college buddies still dressing up for the games and still scanning the crowd for familiar faces.

But one day, we'll be dressing differently and the familiar faces will be a little more scarce. We'll look over into that student section and remember when....when it was our time here and how quickly it came and went. We'll wonder about all those people we used to know; Where are they now? Are they successful? What about that cute person I had a crush on? Yes, we'll lose touch with a lot of people and names will be forgotten, but you'll ALWAYS have your close friends from OLE MISS. You'll email, talk on the phone, play golf or have supper clubs on Tuesday nights and most of the conversations will begin with these two special words which will have the power to make you laugh orcry or simply smile - "remember when"