Well, it only took me a month and a half to get this posted.
Back in mid October my alma mater was having its homecoming and my 10 year college reunion. Where in the world has the time gone? Wasn’t my 10 year high school reunion just yesterday?
I went to good ol’ East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, TX. My major was Elementary Ed with a specialization in History. It was an amazing time. I absolutely loved going to a tiny little school that had about 1,400 total students. That is about half the size of the high school I went to. There may be some things you miss out on with going to a small school, like not having as many majors offered, but for me the benefits far out weighed any down sides. I made friendships that will truly last the rest of my life, not only with fellow students, but with faculty and staff. It was awesome having professors that loved us and who became like family. I have stayed at many of their houses which probably most people who went to big schools can’t say. Marshall definitely has a piece of my heart. It is the longest I had lived anywhere until now and it is the first place that I chose to live.
Thankfully, quite a few of us were able to make it back for the reunion. It is so hard at this point in life for many since they may have moved far away or have young children. It was great to catch up a bit and see everyone’s kids. It is never enough time when you go to an event like this, but it is better than nothing.
I didn’t get to go to all of the events since we had to leave early to make the long drive home but we did get to do some of the things. Most of these pictures are from the group of us who watched the little parade together.
Unfortunately, there were some missing that I had planned on seeing. My senior year there were 6 of us girls that lived together. I think I mentioned this back a few months ago. Merewyn now lives in OH and works at a university that was having its homecoming at the same time, so I knew she couldn’t come. My roommate, Beth, pictured above, now lives up in PA and has 4 kids but was thankfully able to make it. Brianne, who lives in NM was not going to be able to come but also got hit by a car while riding her bicycle to work shortly before this so she was at home recovering. (Thankfully, even though she got hurt pretty bad, she is going to be ok.) Becky, who is in East TX ended up having to have her gallbladder out just after this and was in too much pain to come. And then this July, Shannon, suddenly passed away from her diabetes. What is up with all of this? So, Beth and I had to represent the house.
Besides seeing some awesome people, we got to enjoy some awesome food. There is a restaurant on Caddo Lake in Uncertain, TX (great name for a town) called Big Pines Lodge. It is right on the water and had the best cat fish and hush puppies. Unfortunately, a couple years ago it burned down. I had heard that they had plans to rebuild but didn’t think they had done anything yet. Thankfully, we saw a sign that it had just reopened. They totally kept the look and feel of the old place but made it even nicer! It was great getting to take the kids there. We also ate some chopped beef sandwiches at Bodacious Bbq. Ohhh, so good.
We stayed at The Wisteria Garden Bed and Breakfast. It is located in the historic downtown in a beautiful, old home. The owners, The Vassars, are wonderful people and are like family. If you ever come this way you have to stay there. Not only are they hospitable but they make amazing breakfasts. Marshall has really brought the square back to life and has a big thing every winter called the Wonderland of Lights.
Another thing I made sure to see while in town were two old houses I lived in during two different summers.
It was so exciting to see this one had been redone and was now being used as a store. When I lived in it with Beth and another friend Christie, we were staying in it for free. The payment was to fix it up. The original agreement was that we’d be doing mostly cosmetic things like painting etc and it’d be finished by summer so we could stay in it. But then, they decided to gut it and add insulation and put up new walls, kitchens, baths, etc. which meant that we only finished 1/4 of the house. We had no kitchen, downstairs there was a hole in the floor big enough for people to crawl through, and there was a half way house across the street with ex convicts sitting on the front porch watching us. The Lord really took care of us that summer. I did learn to throw a kitchen out a second story window, sand and stain a wood floor, put in insulation, put up sheet rock, tape and float the sheet rock, live and work in hard conditions with two very different people, etc. so it was all good.
This house I had to take a picture from the bushes because I realized people were in there even though from the road it looks abandoned. Becky and I lived here just so we could have somewhere cheap to crash and be able to stay in town. It had a HUGE roach problem and more than once a giant flying roach flew on my head which then made me run and scream through the house. Every night we would spray roach spray around the areas we slept. It wasn’t in the best area either but luckily the police were across the street. One interesting thing about the house is that it had slave quarters down below it.
Both of the houses have so much potential with a bit of love and money thrown at them.
Hopefully, at our next reunion, more of us will be able to come.