Homecoming...

There is something about a homecoming weekend that I love.  Whether high school or college, seeing old friends and telling the same old stories over and over again drinking a cold beverage or two is something that feeds the soul.  It's like reliving the best times of your life, or as we get older, hitting the highlights and greatest hits.  We laugh together and remember the things we shouldn't have done, and still have no regrets, along with with the things we did that deserve an unapologetic "golf clap."  When you are around old friends it's like magic, time flies by, and your face hurts from laughing about the glory days we all shared, all while making some amazing new memories along the way.

This weekend we are off to The University of the South: Sewanee for Homecoming. It's up  on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, where the weather will be cold, crisp, and clean.  This truly is one of my favorite places to visit on the planet.  The fall leaves will hopefully be at their peak and will jump off the bright blue canvas above as if the sky was another friend following us around through the day.  This weekend will be this Florida family's chance to break out the Barbour coats, boots, and sweaters for the first time this year and I absolutely can't wait.  

Very early on I learned to just go with the flow and not try to make my own plans while up on The Mountain.  Instead, let it take a life of its own and let the magic happen. Although I can say …  if you are looking for me this Saturday afternoon, I will be sitting on my favorite bar stool at Shenanigans, one of the best dive bars of all time, watching the Georgia/Florida game with a cold beer in my hand and wearing a smile on my face.  I will see people I haven't seen in years, and we will catch up like humans used to do before damn Facebook.  We will tell lies about how great our lives are; then discuss our troubles picking up right where we left off years before.  We will laugh and cry and leave even closer than before remembering everybody has something going on in their life and that we are not alone when it comes to all the crap life throws at us.

At some point, we will stop by the Sigma Nu house and see Will, along with his fellow pledge brothers: Brother Blutto, Brother D-Day, Otter, Flounder and The Stork.  We won't stay long as the desire to stand around smelling and standing in stale beer has run its course with me a long time ago.  Not to mention, I really don't want to look like the creeping "old man" that we made fun of 25 years ago standing around drinking our keg. But since my code is to go with the flow, we will see what happens.

I have been blessed my entire life with great friends and relationships that are better than I deserve.  The older I get, the more meaningful they become and I could not put a price on any of it like the wake of material things of my past.   This weekend will be fun whatever happens up on the mountain…it always is ...  it's All Good!