Memories

First off, this post is dedicated to Paul Murphy since he apparently hates being commented on in anything titled memories.

So I went back out to Harding this past weekend. It really is strange going back there and seeing the many different things that are there. It's not like it's been that long since the last time I was there. Probably about 2 months, but the changes over the course of the past year and a half are really quite substantial. For starters, the Heritage is a completely different building. There are waterfalls in the lobby, spiral staircases to the second floor, and a large metal globe in the center of everything. Not to mention that it actually looks like a nice hotel now and not just a pathway between the student center and the (Charles) White Dining Hall. There is a new fountain (was this really necessary?) by the Admin that is (overly) elaborate and huge, the dorms are all being renovated to eliminate community showers, and the front lawn now has another pathway that is crossing over it.

I accepted all these things as change and didn't really worry about how old it makes me to know that the science building new wing really is 3 years old and that the circle with a road blocking sign pointing out Harding that goes from in front of the caf onto race is a piece of crap in an already congested intersection. Then I go off to frisbee and I recognize about 7 other people that are playing (adam williams and I counted). It's also amusing to have a majority of them looking at me like they think that I have no clue how to play frisbee. But what really got me was when Burr was commenting on a particular persons catching style. I made the (usually) always funny joke that it reminds me of how justin baines would always jump to catch a disc regardless of whether it was 2 inches or 10 feet off the ground. Those feet just had to come off the ground. In days past, that would have had everyone laughing and joking about it. This time, I think that adam laughed. And that was it. Everyone else had this look of, "What are you talking about?" Sadly, I too have become "old", and part of a Harding from a different time and place.

There are things that are still the same. Doc still tries to act menacing while teaching his class all about the joys of organic, but the grimace and glare usually just come across as a goofy grin. Justin Bland is still at Harding University (as a student). #1 Super China Buffet is one of the best all-you-can-eat chinese places around, and construction on the road to Little Rock is (not) farther along than it was the first time I visited about 8 years ago.

I guess that change is inevitable. It makes you realize, however, that there are things that are important, and things that are not so important. In the end, will anyone really care that you spent infinity hours at harding park and behind harding academy honing your frisbee skills? Will anyone know that you did in fact own the new physics wing of the science building the first year it was in use? Maybe it was that performance/presentation/speech/club that was quite possibly the finest thing that the students at Harding University could witness in their lifetime that people will remember for a few years? Or is it the one person who will remember you for a lifetime because in their time of need you reached out and touched them?

For your viewing pleasure, with the World series quickly reaching an end (thank goodness), the return of House Tuesday nights on Fox is quickly approaching. If you've never seen the show before, watch it. And become addicted. Just like myself, paul, mandi, stoner, mandi's suite, and countless others are...