Memphis Trip, Recap 3

I was up decently early Saturday despite the lateness of the previous night. I had lunch with my friend Betty Kay. She said she felt like time went by pretty quickly since I was last in Memphis so I guess that's a good thing. We had a fun time catching up and pondering what the future might hold in our uncertain lives.

After lunch, I headed over to the University because the track team was hosting a meet throughout the day. You may recall that I worked with the track student-athletes while at Memphis so this happened to be a nice way to see many students in one setting.

Just about every student was shocked to see me. I was continuously greeted throughout the day by phrases like "Oh my God, Carol!" or "Carol, I can't believe you're here!" or "Carol, what the hell are you doing here?" It was pretty funny. In all honesty, I sort of felt like a small town celebrity. People wanted to hug me and talk to me and inquire about my life. Maybe this was my proverbial fifteen minutes of fame? Who knows, but it was a delight to see everyone.

My favorite comment of the weekend came at the meet. I ran into a former student, Brian, who I worked with for 3.5 years. He and I used to have some great chats in my office and I got the sense he missed those conversations. He greeted me with a hug and then said, "Oh, so you're not pregnant."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

You may refer to a previous post where I did, in fact, know this would happen. I knew someone out there would think I up and left my job because of some unwanted, unplanned pregnancy. As I noted earlier on the blog and as I know for certainty, I am not carrying a child. I may have put on a few pounds, but I am definitely not expecting. I found this whole conversation with Brian absolutely hysterial. He definitely gets the award for comment of the weekend.

There was another moment at the meet that was particularly striking to me. You see, because we live in the real world, it's expected that we're not going to like everyone and everyone isn't always going to like us. I am a realist so I always knew this to be true. There was a student on the track team who I worked with for a few semesters and you could say that he and I didn't "click" all the time. It was okay, though, because we found a way to make things work. I ran into him, and it was actually a pleasant moment. Without saying so, he basically implied he had a fond appreciation for what I did and he actually missed me being around to help him. He's one of those I had a sense would "miss me when I was gone." It's not that I want to hold this power over someone, but it is the case that he really didn't know how good he had it until I left. I got the sense a lot of my students felt that way, some because they told me so directly but others just by how they said certain things or talked about their current situations.

This is the closest I have to experiencing satisfaction, knowing that I did make an impact and knowing that it is finally being appreciated. I guess I needed some of this affirmation. It helped give me some more closure that in some way I needed.

The track meet was rewarding, as was catching up with all sorts of students throughout the weekend. I'm so glad I had the chance to do so. I always said I would miss the students and the people in general, and that's certainly true. I miss their stories and I miss seeing them grow. I'm just thankful for the small moments I had to reconnect. It was really a rewarding afternoon.