Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Homecoming 2010


I made a last minute decision to make the trek home for Lee University's Homecoming weekend. It seemed that most of my girlfriends were making the trip and once all of my transportation woes were solved, I bought a plane ticket to the ATL. The surprising part: Chip decided he wanted to see what the kids were talking and check out TN. So, he joined me and learned first hand the awesomeness of all things Cleveland.
We boarded the big white bird on Thursday night and headed for ATL. Whatup and her new beau, Kit (who is awesome, by the way), scooped us up from the airport to transport us to Joanna. We met up with her at a very "classy" Waffle House and decided to just go in and make a memory of it. We were the only patrons at 10:00pm, so we convinced Joanna we had reserved the place for us. Once we finished stuffing our faces with smothered and covered hashbrowns, we headed to Jo's place. Let the fun begin!


We woke up Friday morning and headed straight over to my college roommate's house, Amberly. Berly just gave birth to her 3rd daughter, so she is a for real FULL TIME mommy. We went over for breakfast and to spend some time with her kiddos. Her oldest is quite a character. She speaks in full monologues at the age of 3 and a half. Her middle girl is adorable with her scratchy voice. We had a blast eating waffles and fruit with her fam and then began to make our way North to TN.

After running a few errands, we made it to TN at lunchtime. If anyone has ever spent time in Cleveland, TN you know exactly where to go for lunch: JENKINS! We met Sarah Bragg and her 2 girls and Kelly Denbow's family. It was so nice to see everyone and their little ladies. We finally finished our chicken salad sammies and wound down before the Class of 2000 evening event. We joked at lunch, "What if we are the only people that show to the reunion?" Of course that wouldn't happen, right?




We arrived fashionably late to a very empty gathering place. Other than a handful of folks that we didn't know, our crew was the only group there! Can you believe it? We didn't care though. We intended to spend time together and we did. So, Brittany, Willis, Mac, and baby-to-be joined the lunch crew plus Sarah's husband. We hung out until the babies had to go home and sleep. Then Jo, the Jepson's minus Mac, and Chip and I met up with Whatup and Kit at Jenkins for an evening of chocolate cake and offensive conversation. I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time. I think we have decided to get a group together to head to the Kentucky Derby next year. You in?

Saturday morning, Joanna and I ran the Homecoming 5k and then did an additional 5 miles. Once that was said and done, we went to our respective lodging facilities and cleaned up for the day. Chip and I took Keri to the Rebel for brunch, my first place of employment. Man, those biscuits and gravy are still awesome! Then we met up with the previous night's crowd with the addition of Joel and hung out for a bit at Gardner's Market. After getting a full commentary tour of the Bragg's historic home renovation, we headed to ATL to fly home.


If you are worn out by reading all of that, imagine how spent we were when we got home. I needed that trip so badly and loved seeing everyone. It's funny because many of those ladies I only see once a year and conversations are spread out in between mostly through email and Facebook with a handful of phone calls. But the friendships we developed at Lee were relationships of substance. They are still near and dear to me even if it is just once a year visiting.

I think Chip enjoyed himself in the land of Mayfield's and Jenkins. I know he was a hit with the age 3 and under crew. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he goes back to just visit Sinclair. He assured me he would send me a postcard if he did.


Ladies, glad I saw each of you and looking forward to Berly's Girls Weekend. Hopefully we can add Cybil and Mur to that one!


(Me, Britt, Kelly, and Sarah. We couldn't resist getting a picture here. Photographed by Jo.)

3 comments:

The Deavours Family said...

aw, so fun! first of all....the girls and i are quite sad that we weren't photographed for the blog. HA! secondly, "mr. chip" was mentioned today in fact. "but he's not chip like in beauty in 'da beast, mommy."

Mindyb said...

You are right, Amberly. I should have taken a picture of the Deavour ladies crazy hair, pjs, and all. I will remind Chip he isn't like the one in beauty and the beast. He forgets that a lot!

TateandLily'sMom said...

Man...missed you girls at the breakfast. Michelle wouldn't get her butt out of bed.