An Orange State of Mind

I wrote this post last weekend on a road trip to Clemson, but time constraints and computer issues have delayed its posting. Here’s what was on my brain…

Orange!

Chris and I have brought our girls to their first Clemson experience. I sit here illuminated only by the light of the computer screen while my sweet fam is tuckered out in the two double beds of our hotel room (thank you, Starwood points).

I graduated from Clemson in 1995, and, for me, there is no other place like it. My first year there was the worst year of my entire life, and I tried my dead-level best to transfer to Wofford – all to no avail. I didn’t adapt well to being a minnow in an ocean, but it was good for me in some ways. It was awful for me in others, but I digress. Hundreds of poor choices aside, I came to love this place! As I drive through intersections and step in my own footsteps from those years and as I remember certain booths and sandwiches from favorite restaurants, I can easily slip back into her. For moments at the time I can walk in the past. This campus is my fountain of youth. My body instinctively hunches over under the burden of my brown suede bag and my calves burn in the car just remembering the hill to Clemson House. My hair grows inches by the minute and my stomach growls for pizza and Taco Bell. I stroll by buildings and hear thirteen year-old conversations and lectures. I see places, and detailed memories of mundane experiences roll on my screen. I never knew the clock on Tillman Hall is pointless; time doesn’t exist here.


I’m in an orange state of mind…

Chris says, “Go Dabo!”

A Pretty Good Monday
Ouch! Yeah, the truth...

5 Comments

  1. Mark
    November 24, 2008 at 12:21 pm

    Don’t you have another degree from another university in SC? Maybe from THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. Home of the Mighty Mighty Gamecocks. Where is the love for the Garnet and Black?

  2. Anonymous
    Anonymous
    November 24, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    We had a great time! I still miss it, too! Such great memories there…no other school in the world could EVER be as great as CLEMSON!

    Amy

  3. Crystal
    Crystal
    November 24, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    I loved Clemson too. I haven’t been back in about 6 years and I am ready to go as well. Looking back, I too have some regrets but mostly- WOW, it was so much fun!!

  4. Angela
    November 24, 2008 at 3:49 pm

    Although i did not go to the University of North Carolina, I am a huge Tarheel fan! Sorry, no orange for me.

  5. Mary Nell
    Mary Nell
    November 26, 2008 at 4:09 pm

    I didn’t even go to Clemson, I married into the family! But there is just something magical about the campus and the stadium…been to many other places and many other games and never found another one quite like it! GO TIGERS 🙂