Little Rock, AR
It’s been a time to catch up with people from the past. I went with King last night to his Aunt and Uncle’s place for dinner. The last time I had seen them was over 8 years ago when he and I went to sign the lease at Lefever. Their kids have grown up well. King and I battled with them on the basketball court for two games. I played in bare feet, which was interesting. My team won the first and lost the second. The 11 year old hit the game winner for both games. His younger brother is a scrapper and he was on my team for the second game. It was fun to play some driveway hoops. Their house was incredible. Words can’t describe, but the view that they have is breathtaking. Their backyard looks out over the Arkansas River. When I say overlooks, I mean thousands of feet above. You can see for miles. The best view in Little Rock in my opinion, next to Pinnacle Mountain.
King and I were pretty mellow after dinner and bball, but we went over to my friend Brent’s place. He and I had talked on the phone numerous times since I’ve been here, but this was the first time seeing him. We had a few beers and caught up. I’ll be playing golf with him and a few guys in Hot Springs on Sunday. We left Brent’s and I crashed out while King was watching a Wilco movie.
Today was a big day. I had two interviews, one with my old writing professor who I look at as a mentor and a business owner who I used to work for when I was in college. I got up, hit the shower, shaved, and headed back to my alma mater, back to the familiar roads leading from Lefever to UALR. I pulled into campus and things looked pretty much the same, except for some new signage. The car hit the familiar gravel of the fraternity house parking lot. I pulled into the slightly elevated parking spot and got out wondering which member or pledge I’d run into. It was 10 AM and it was summer, so I was not too surprised when no one was there. I was running a bit slow, but I still made time to get out the video camera and make the walk to Dr. Anderson’s office. I was casual in my filming, holding the camera at waist level and walking. I have no idea how that came out.
I was packing the camera away in front of the Writing department when I saw the familiar face I came for. “Dr. Anderson,” I said with a raised voice. He came over and we shook hands. We exchanged our pleasantries.
I was pumped to see him. He and I had a discussion when I was a senior about my future. I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. Sound familiar? I was trying to decide whether or not I should go to work, go to graduate school in writing, or go to graduate school in advertising. I did not know where to go. He helped, but let me decide for myself. I chose the advertising graduate school. After 6 years of trying to figure things out, I felt good about my choice of writing this book. It felt right to talk to him about his path and his writing. His approval is a big plus.
After two hours, I had taken up enough of his day. We said our goodbyes. He is a cool dude and I think he and I will cross paths many more times in my life. He is the one professor who my parents met when I graduated. It was nice to get another picture with him.
I left the office and headed back to the fraternity house. This time there was a brother there. I shook his hand and took a look around. All of the parties and friends came back to my mind. I have a lot of memories there. I made my best friends from college because of that fraternity. I wouldn’t change it.
I ran into my webmaster, Bobby, and Spoon, the man who I share one of my best athletic moments with. He and I were on the team that beat our archrival fraternity in basketball. I was a senior and they had beaten us in every game every year that I was here. That includes football and everything else. We would be beating them and then play not to lose. We would then lose. Anyway, we played them during my final season of my senior year. We came out and got out to an early lead. We never gave it up. We ended up killing them in front of a crowd. You could not wipe the smile off of my face. Even now, I smile when I type this. I will always remember after the game ended, one guy on their team who was always a jerk to us, he didn’t come over to shake hands. I went up to him and put out my hand. He had played awful and was untying his shoes. My hand stayed out. He turned away. Shy me got up in his face, “All those times you beat us, we’d shake your hand,” and I left it out there. A circle formed. There was always trouble between our fraternities. He shook. I smiled and left. Sweet victory. Spoon was on the team.
I then left the house for lunch. I was meeting two guys who I had not seen in a long time. B-Real was older than me at school and fraternity, but a guy that was always cool to me. He’s cool to everyone. His mellowness and mine mesh well. We share a love of Tar Heel basketball and golf. He was in Memphis when I went to The Shins concert. Awesome CD and show. He’s a music guy too.
I had not seen Sipes in 6 years. He’s moved to outside of Denver and has made a good life for himself out there. We had lost touch until King emailed him my trip information. He emailed me and I will be seeing him when I go to Denver.
We met for lunch at the Riverwalk. Little Rock has come a long way since I was at school here. They finally have a bar/restaurant district. It’s cool that it’s on the river too. The Clinton Library is close by.
We had a good lunch and caught up with our lives and the lives of our friends. I’ve said before that you can’t take the place of friends from college. I’ll say it again. It was great to see these guys. I may see them tonight if King and I don’t leave for the Buffalo River.
Our lunch ran long and I was late for my 2:00 with Tom. He used to co-own a business I did some work for while at school. The business is no longer there, but he has started another. His wife works there. It was a cool place and I bought a couple of gifts. It was great to see him and learn about his 20 plus years as a small business owner.
I’ll be seeing a couple of other people shortly. Today took me back in time. I sometimes shake my head at the kid I was when I was 19 and 20. I was not a bad kid, just scared. I would never do anything. I’d rather sit at home then go out and meet or see people. I think I missed out on a lot because of that. I guess you can’t change the past, but I like it that I enjoy talking to people now. Many memories raced through my mind today. I hope this entry stirs the minds of my friends that were here with me during that time. A lot of fun was had and a lot of bonds made.
Little Rock, Lefever, and UALR will always hold a strong tie to me. I can go on and on with stories, but my eyes are tired from staring at the screen. It’s Friday! The weekend is here. Enjoy it.