The most wonderful people in the world

[Suda]

Friday Sudo and I moved our eldest daughter back to Ole Miss for her sophomore year. All of us were dreading move in day as last year had been he!!acious - extreme heat, traffic congestion, long lines, broken elevators (she lived on the 11th floor) . . . plus the angst of leaving your first born at school. This year was terrific despite the extreme heat. Move in was as smooth as silk, and so joyous as we were engulfed by “rebel yell” greetings from throngs of her friends, hugs galore, and a wonderful atmosphere of excitement. I had to make another trip down Saturday as she had left some important things behind (fortunately Oxford is only an hour and 15 minute drive from Memphis!). As I was leaving tonight after dinner, I really enjoyed the entire campus scene. There was such vibrancy and gaiety everywhere. Groups of students bustling about, heading out to party with their friends, and make new ones. The smiling faces and twinkling eyes reflected looks of great expectation, knowing that not only that evening, but their entire year ahead, had great things in store for them. I reveled in the joy and excitement.

On the drive back I couldn’t help but reflect back on my college days and what a wonderful part of my life it had been. Especially all the great friendships I made during that time - in the dorm, classes, study groups, my social sorority, being a little sister in a social fraternity, Panhellenic, working in the Medical School, in the honor fraternities, in intramural sports, just milling around campus, and in twi. And it struck me, that of all the groups I had been involved with, the one that had the greatest impact on my life, and the one through whom I still have the closest and dearest friends, was twi.

If I were to meet someone today, and learn that they had been at East Carolina University at the same time I was, my first thought would be “Wonder if I knew them?” and I would enjoy talking to them about our experiences while there. If I were to meet someone that was involved with twi during those same years (1973-1979 - undergrad and grad years), my first thought would be “Now this is someone I’d like to get to know better” because I would instantly feel a sense of camaraderie with them, and feel that they were what I refer to as “good folk”. They could prove me wrong, but that would be the exception, rather than the rule. Of all the organizations I have been involved with throughout my life, I have never met more wonderful, caring, and loving people than I have through twi and the groups (such as GSC) that “spun off” from them. (Not at all to say that GSC is a splinter group of twi, but that it is populated mainly with people that have at one time or another been involved with twi).

Indeed, twi had some real rotten apples. Fortunately I only had one-on-one dealings with very few. But the vast majority were the finest folks I have ever had the privilege of knowing. It’s the only group in which I felt comfortable meeting others with a “phone call introduction”; i.e., if traveling with business or whatever, if I was going to a new town where I knew no one, if a fellow twi’er put me in contact with someone there, I had no hesitation meeting with them, going to their home, etc. And that holds true for GSC, also. That’s why I felt comfortable going to GGGW and the Weenie Roast this summer, having been a GSC’er for less than 6 months. Can’t think of another group through which I would travel miles to spend a weekend with a small group of people I had never met before.

Just some musings I had while on my trip home that I wanted to share with y’all.

[I Love Bagpipes]

:) :)

[oilfieldmedic]

I love Bagpipes said it for me perfectly

I share the same thoughts!

So when are y'all comin' over here for a visit?

[topoftheworld]

Your opinion counts for a lot, Suda! Thanks-very well said.

[excathedra]

you are a sweet lovely girl

[Tom Strange]

that's sweet suda... (and you have to put up with that dentist as well!)

does Oxford still have all of that Kudzu (or however you spell it) hanging everywhere? ...nice little town...

[coolchef]

suda

i think what you said is what many of us feel

some of the best people i met in my life were in twi

they are still many who are dear friends

[Scout Finch02]

Ditto on what you guys said. I have been out of TWI for almost twenty years and the people that I will drive across the country to see are mostly folks that I met in TWI. One of my closest friends who I drive 4 hours to see was a WOW with me 27 years ago. Same goes for two other friends I drive about 16 and 20 hours to see every couple of years...and another family in Maine...and ....

And no matter how much time passes between visits or phone calls, we pick up right where we left off as if no time at all has passed.

[Suda]

Tom,

Yes, still lots of kudzo (sp?), especially as you're approaching town. Green spaces in town have been pruned a bit.

Wonderful town! Glad she's there and it's so close we can visit. Go down for every home football game. I do the Grove, and then girly things with my daughters, while Sudo and our son do the game. It's Sudo's alma mater, so very special to him.

[Pirate1974]

I was at ECU around that same time, 1972-74. I transferred there after two years at the University of Tennessee and graduated from there, which is why I'm Pirate1974. I loved ECU and Greenville and I'm trying to convince my son to consider going there next fall. He's more interested in the mountains and is looking at Western Carolina and Appalachian.

I was involved in twi the whole time I was at ECU and I'd have to say I made some good friends while I was in. It seemed like way people were great one-on-one but the way as an organization could be a royal pain. I got into it to please a girl I was dating at the time (who was also the reason I came to ECU), and the way was responsible for screwing that up, which still makes me mad. Even with that, I can't really blame any specific people, just the whole "way-think" system.

So I wonder if I knew you? I'm "good folk." Ask Sudo.

[Suda]

Indeed, you are "good folk" Pirate. You are an ECU Pirate, after all. Purple Power!

We "met" in chat. Didn't know each other, but knew some of the same "good folks". I didn't get involved with twi until 1976, think you were gone by then.

If I ever come back to Homecoming, I'll look you up. Would be so fun to meet you face to face.

Suda

[ex10]

Too funny, suda. We took oldest daughter to A&M today. I had many of the same thoughts.

Got home, and brother called me. A childhood friend, that I knew through college, dropped his daughter off at Rice today. He is staying with bro, and driving back to Memphis tomorrow. It's so funny, how we relive our own goings off to college vicariously.

Somehow, the connetions we had then, stick really well. Tony dropped his daughter off, we empathized, had dinner, all was well.

But I must say, I agree with you. The way connections come through like no others. Meetin my firend was cool, but after a while, you run out of stuff to say. Not so with exway friends. :B) They go above and beyond the call of duty to friendship, it seems. Ya just never run outta stuff to say.

Love to you and yours, darlin.