I Did Not Cry and Other Notes

Yesterday was a very busy day for many Penn State Track Alumni Golfers.  It was the biggest day of College drop offs in the nation.  There were many at PSU Main Campus and still more at PSU branch campuses across the state. Still more I have become aware of across the fruited plain.  I joined in for the very first time, and I must say it was a very difficult thing to do.  I didn't cry, but whatever the state of emotion is just before crying, I was certainly there.  This was a very first time for such an emotion since Daughter the Elder's premature birth and the potential loss of my entire family that it entailed.  I'm happy to say that both pulled through with resounding success and I can't beat either of them on a running course today.

Nittany Lion with Daughters Younger and Elder.

The hardest part was the last moments when she said "goodbye" to her dog, who we took along for the trip.  Pooky actually took it harder than any of us.   I've never seen her as despondent as I did on the way home.  She spent the night with Daughter the Younger, and I don't know yet how that turned out, although Pooky seems better this AM.

The dorm room was bigger than any I had and her roommate played basketball for the same high school I did.  Her parents live right near where I had my first job as a gopher for a solar-powered condominium complex.  And he works with a patient of mine who helped take my school record in the 4 x 880Y (4 x 800M by then) and a childhood friend that lived 3 houses away from me.  Which means my daughter lucked into a very fine roommate indeed.  (I was never so lucky as a Freshman in McKean Hall in 1977.)  Thank goodness Doug Kent took me in as a Sophomore (translated as wise fool, indeed).

The deja vu continued when Cross Country Coach Bill Preston showed up and we had discussions about all the people our lives have in common.  Coach Preston didn't know I've known Paul Souza since 1978 and told a great story about Paul singing the national anthem spontaneously at the NCAA Division III Track Championships one year when the tape player (or record player!) broke.  Coach Preston said Paul has a good voice, with which I concurred!  Maybe that makes us both Groupies for the Velveteen Playboys.  We also both concurred that Paul has a lot of difficulty staying still.  Kinetics play a major role in his life.

Even better, Coach Preston presented me with a gift.  It turns out that his wife and Jim Ryun's wife are friends, and speak frequently.  He presented me with a signed copy of his book "The Courage to Run".  I told Coach that I was the very first person to ask him about his Congressional Career at the Walt Disney World Marathon following his election victory but before his taking office.  All the other questions were the very same ones he has been asked 1,000s of times before about his running career.  He told me he appreciated my question about his Committee Assignments (which had just been announced the day before) and what he hoped to accomplish as a Congress member.  He delighted in answering the question and centered on his commitment to small business, something he did keep his campaign promises on.  I never got his autograph at the time, but I have it now.  Thanks Coach.