Livin' and Lovin' in A-town

A SpectACUlar Weekend

My favorite event at our university has passed. We celebrated our Centennial Homecoming this past weekend and everything was simply wonderful. God certainly smiled on Abilene this weekend and blessed us with absolutely beautiful weather...high of 85, sunny, cool breeze...we couldn't have asked for a more picturesque weekend.

I've been anticipating this weekend for quite some time now for many reasons. The main reason being that all of my closest friends from college would be back in the same town for two whole days. I often miss my friends from school...the majority of those friends being my GATA sisters. I miss the late night talks, weekend trips, making costumes, parties with friends...knowing that at any given moment, I always had someone to call if I wanted to go eat, watch a movie, drive around town, play at the park or just sit and laugh at stupid jokes that no one else would find funny. I miss those times. I miss those girls.


The other reason I was so excited was because it was our Centennial Homecoming! How many people get to experience that?! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I was absolutely thrilled to be a part of our school's history! I knew Homecoming would be great this year.

The weekend kicked off Friday morning with Homecoming chapel. Chapel was wonderful. 4,000 people singing, seeing old friends, balloon drops, confetti cannons...It was a great start for our weekend. The rest of Friday was filled with the Queen's tea, golf tournament, the carnival and JamFest. All of which were fantastic events.

Saturday morning began bright and early at 6:30am with GATA breakfast. It was my first breakfast to attend since I pledged...so we're talking like 4 years. It was wonderful! I don't know if I was more excited to see all of my friends or just excited to be at GATA breakfast! I had reserved a table for all of my friends...wouldn't you know that when we arrived, my table was at the very front of the room! Seriously, we would have been just fine at the back...and probably would have had more fun...we tried to behave at the front of the room, but we still laughed A LOT! After breakfast we all went to the parade. I enjoyed watching the parade with the girls...then it was off to the Pre-game Party. The Pre-game Party was my event. It went off well, and we had about 250 people in attendance. After the Pre-game Party, it was off to the football game. We were slaughtered by WTAMU...I left the game a little upset at our team. Seriously, who can't score on the first yard line on a second down...or third down...or fourth down? We had three prime chances and blew it! That was only one of the many mistakes in the game, but I'm over it! After the game I had a reunion dinner, which was really easy, and it was nice to see many of the older people I have gotten to know with past Golden Anniversary Reunions. Then, after the dinner...it was off to my house!

This was the highlight of my weekend! Most of my closest friends all gathered at my house Saturday night for food, fun, games, costumes, pranks and a lot of laughter! I so miss times like we had Saturday night. My house overflowed with "catching up" conversations, stories of new jobs, updates on who is living where and who is engaged. It was just like old times. We sat around and talked, reminisced, laughed, ate, played games, listened to music and were perfectly content just being with the girls. We all made sacrifices to be there. Some left their husbands, some brought their husbands, some left their families, some gave up sleep, some came after the musical...some came for only ten minutes, but the important part is that we were there together. Nothing got in the way of our friendship that night.

Sunday afternoon several of us met to eat lunch and gather together one last time for the weekend. We said our good-byes, wished everyone well, and told them to be careful on their drive back home. It was a great ending to a wonderful weekend. It was a reminder how important friendships are. How important it is to maintain close relationships. Thank you to those who made our Centennial Homecoming so great. Here's to the next 100 years!