A Good Weekend

Yesterday, my best friend and I went to the Prairie Arts Festival in West Point. It was a great trip. She and I don't get to do much together. She lives near Jackson, and her life as a teacher with a family of husband and three small children pretty much keeps her running all the time. My life is notoriously hectic as well, so we only see each other a few times a year despite the fact that we really don't live that far apart in the global scheme of things.

We decided that despite the impending Gustav-madness, we were going to load up and go see the Prairie Arts Festival. It was an easy drive, only a couple of hours, and we were certainly both familiar with the area from our college days. Driving up, though, was like taking a trip back in time. The closer we got to the Golden Triangle area, the more it felt like we were back in college again.

We shopped and enjoyed the wonderful artists' works at the Festival, and we decided to go to Starkville when we left. I hadn't been to Starkville in a very long time, and I wanted to go see how the campus had changed. Just being there again and seeing how much has been totally removed was surreal. The university I went to is basically no longer there except in ghost images hidden under or behind other buildings. It's not that it's a bad change, but seeing huge gaping holes or new construction where all the dorms of my college experience once stood was a little weird.

The best part of our trip was just the talking. We talked about all kinds of things, some of which went all the way back to college. Old memories, good and bad, floated up, and it was a pleasure to walk through them together. We ate at Lil Dooeys as the capstone on the day and came home.

Even though the trip took the whole day, I feel refreshed. I think we're going to make it an annual thing. Maybe next year we can even get up there in time for the Howlin' Wolf Blues Festival portion of the weekend. Even if we don't get to do it again, though, it was great this year.