A personal connection with Jason Collier? At first I thought no way, but I actually do, in a Kevin Bacon kind of way. There’s a chance Collier’s father played for Wack Hyder, the long-time head coach who won the NIT and beaten Adolph Rupp up in Kentucky. For years my maternal grandmother worked in the registrar’s office at Tech, but had retired before I arrived in 1977. Hyder knew her from his frequent visits to the registrars office. As a freshman I took an aerobics PE class (back then that meant running). Hyder was the instructor. He remembered my grandmother, and would ask about her when I’d see him around campus or at a Tech basketball game.
As a kid there was a tall, stern looking man at church with a son my brother’s age. He was a principal somewhere nearby. He was Jim Nolan, who also played for Hyder…perhaps with Collier. That’s the closest I come!
In college I was an extrovert…life of the party. Maybe just to draw attention to myself, to be popular. I was probably more well-balanced in high school, maybe more myself. Gradually during my single days, and more so after I got married, did I swing the other way and become more of an introvert. Heavy. I’m like Tiffany in that my alone time is in the car, some at work, and at night after Ceil goes to bed.
That Coley group was the first time we had been in a group where no one knew anyone going in, but I thought it turned out half-decent. There was something here that connected couple one to couple two, and something else that connected couple two to couple three, and so on. We had trouble conceiving, as did y’all. Chris hired Staci, and Donna and Amy connected through their daughters, it seemed. Kurt and Brian mountain biked, and Susan helped Ceil with her organizational problems. I liked the discussions, because we weren’t all coming from the same background/viewpoint. So that group may have been above-average, as groups go.
Our previous groups were made up of people we already knew, and though they were more Bible study groups, it was a chance to meet regularly with friends. Our current group is funny just because the two new couples have done such a good job fitting in. One new couple is always on the go, and invites one or two of the other families (that’s good for us Murphys, who aren’t big inviters). The other couple is the guy that goes to movies, and the girl hangs out with the other girls. Since four couples are old friends (particularly the girls), with kids exactly the same age, we’re more apt to see each other more often.
Andy (or his wife, who’s probably more involved in the process) seems to have the right idea of asking neighbors/people they don’t know to be in their group. (Haven’t heard him saying he goes to Grouplink…nor any of the other bigwigs). But it sounds like they seldom have extracurricular activities, and group members are busy and sometimes miss, like my group.
When we went to Boston in 93, we didn't check out the harbor (or Cape Cod), but there is probably lots of stuff to do there. I hear Will Bynum is doing well up there. We visited the Harvard campus and Fenway Park. We rented a car, spend one night in Boston, and one or two nights in Maine. Saw Kennebunkport and Arcadia National Park and L.L.Bean.
We're going to the Clemson/Duke game. The kids will have a big time. Perhaps we'll see some leaves. Guess I'll wear this new purple shirt I got...in the store it looked blue!
I was at Moe's watching the ND game and it was hard to hear the announcers. Didn't even see the fumble until the replay. I'm sure Weiss hard a hard time figuring out what was going on...guess it helped that he was wearing a headset.
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