Interludes

It's the calm before the storm, as we're headed to Disney World this evening.  I don't think I could be more excited for the trip - for the very adventure of it all.  I can't wait to experience Disney World through the eyes of my boys.  I think at 6 + and 2 +, they're at the perfect age for a trip to Disney World. 

Jude has worked so hard to plan this trip and I'm so appreciative of her efforts.  I had no idea how involved a trip to Disney World can be, at least not until I watched her on the computer, on the telephone,  night after night, making reservations for our hotel and dinner, ordering food, ordering our Fast Passes, etc.  It's going to be a wild ride and I can't wait to get on it.

But, really, I'm not here to talk about our trip to Disney World.  Not yet.

I'm sitting upstairs in the student center at Belmont U., taking a quiet minute or two to relax in a spot where I've spent so much time over the years, sometimes alone, more often with J.P., then later, with Joe.  I've always enjoyed the changing of the seasons, so to speak, at Belmont U.  The students start school in late summer, when it's still hot, arriving in droves, many with their parents in tow.  There's a palpable buzz in the air as they reconnect with friends or meet and make new friends.

As the leaves change and the temperature begins to drop, thankfully after another long, hot summer, the students ease into a routine of classes, meals, social time, etc.  On campus, things seem to get  quieter, a bit more subdued.  Thanksgiving comes and goes and when the students arrive back on campus after the holiday, exam preparation begins in earnest.  Exams were earlier this year than normal, and as they approached the energy on campus increased as I began to see students huddled together, studying, at Bongo Java and in the student center.  As always, there seemed to be an intensity about their conversations, as they worked on their laptops.

Today, exams are over and most of the students have departed campus or are in the process of doing so, headed home for a long, well deserved Christmas break.  As I write this, the students I see walking through the student center are by and large alone and have a relaxed air about them.  No one is hurrying to get anywhere.  I saw a student sitting outside Bongo Java with his suitcase, having a last cup of coffee I suppose, waiting on his ride. 

This campus has meant so much to me the last 10-15 years.  I've said it before and it's really the best way to describe it - I see ghosts wherever I walk or sit, on campus.  From the early days of our relationship when Jude and I played tennis with Kelly McAbee and Cyndi Baines on the public tennis courts (long gone due to building, building and more building) to the halcyon days when J.P. and I came to "Belmont School" almost every night after dinner, I have so many memories of time spent here. 

J.P. took some of his first, unsteady, steps on the soccer field, surrounded by the track (also long gone due to building, building and more building).  Joe took his first steps within sight of where I am sitting right now and I've got the video to prove it, running to J.P. with Jude and his grandma walking protectively beside him. 

To my right is the upstairs heavy door leading to the stairwell, where J.P. and I played "doctor's office" (he would open the door and call my name like it was my turn to go to see the doctor) as he worked through his fear of going to see Dr. Godfrey.  Through the same door, in the stairwell, we played "teenager," where he asked for me keys to "borrow the car" and go see a movie with his friends.  We played "college," where he walked thought the door into the stairwell and sat down as if in a classroom while I asked him history questions he knew the answer to. 

To my immediate right are several chairs and a bench underneath three black and white photos of Belmont U.'s campus.  We played "dorm room" and pretended the photos were windows.  He made a pretend breakfast for us as we "studied" or we went to the "cafeteria."  Wow.

I've rolled the City Elite stroller through this building many, many times, often with J.P. or Joe sleeping contentedly all the while.  Joe and I have ridden the elevators up and down, up and down, to his heart's delight.  J.P. has run pass patterns in the atrium outside the Curb Center, Belmont U.'s gym, while I threw a Nerf football to him and Joe squealed with delight as he watched. 

Jude, J.P., Joe and I have had family picnics on the soccer field (again, gone now).  On that field, we've kicked soccer balls, thrown the Frisbee, hit wiffle balls, played with the "stomp rocket" and thrown the football.

And last but certainly not least, I've walked home through campus on many a night, coffee in hand, after finishing a run at Bongo Java, lost in my thoughts.

Belmont U. is a special, special place to me.  And it always will be.