Does anything ever change?

Yesterday I took off for the Hub City, which is neither a hub nor really a city though it likes to claim to be one – town is what I would call it. Anyway, the fabulous Sarah was getting hitched to the also fabulous Eric and I needed to be there.

It was an opportunity for me to head back to the place I spent 6 years of my life. I went to school at NSU where I double majored in music (vocal and instrumental) to make myself more marketable (Ha!), took lots of history, English, and drama courses, and ended up with a ton of extra credits while on my way to a degree that I used for all of one year. It took 5.5 years only because I took all these extra credits and took a semester off for basic training and other such fun things.

Anyway, that's not important. The important thing is that S&E's wedding took me back to a town where I began to grow and come out of my shell. High school sucked, to put it mildly. College was better even though I had to work 40 hours a week at one job plus work study jobs (yes, plural) and all my course credits. A lot of important things happened to me there and yesterday was an opportunity for me to drive around town and take a look at the few things that have changed.

There's now a HUGE Wal-mart on the east side of town. It used to be in the mall...now that spot sits empty. 6^th is much busier than it used to be, but there are still the staples – Kessler's, Steak & Buffet, Super 8, etc. I drove by all my old apartments – one has really improved (new siding), the other hasn't changed a bit. On campus, all the dorms are still there, there's a new classroom building, JC is the same, and so many memories came flooding back. I drove by the place Jim and I used to run, the Econo Foods where Beth and I sang with Harry Connick Jr song while shopping on a random Sunday night, the Kessler's where I first purchased Hot Damn! which I got drunk on at Karla and Jill's while matching shots with Dan, Murphy's – which used to be called something else – where we would go Thursday nights and listen to our profs play jazz and drink, and so many others. I didn't make it to Storybook Land or the Capitol Theatre - maybe next trip.

The wedding was at the church I attended in college, where I was on speed dial with the church musician. I actually recognized a few people there – Deb, Diane, Arliss. Kay was missing but I found out she was on vacation. The church is still as beautiful as it first was when it was built.

And most important – Sarah and Eric were married. It was beautiful.