How Do I Choose the Best of All?...

This month, my college is hosting a "BlogAbout" each Tuesday where alumni and students can reconnect and share about our alma mater. Today the topic is our favorite memory from OBU. Favorite. Memory. Singular...? I don't think that's possible! So...I think I'll highlight lots of favorite memories - quotes/words of others, events, and places. To some readers they'll mean nothing. To others, they'll bring a smile or a laugh. But to all of us blessed to spend a piece of our lives at Ouachita Baptist University, they'll help recreate that "common bond in an uncommon place" the admissions staff shared about with me during my first visit to campus. 

*"You come to Ouachita and be my girl..." - I still remember the words Mom Chu the very first time I visited campus. It was a Saturday morning, and the percussion teacher was giving me an "informal" tour of campus. As we knocked on her door and she invited us in with those words, I knew in my heart I really was going to be one of her girls!

*Tiger Blast - I was in the first Tiger Blast group in 2003 - drumline! And it really was just that...a blast! Seeing how far the group has come from then is so fun...I'm proud to be part of the first group!

*The Great Flood - during which the river covered the gazebo, and some of the guys decided to go floating on the practice fields with air mattresses...until Safety came and interrupted the fun...lol 

*Freaking people out with my "twin" picture in McClellan - If you know what I look like, you should take a field trip to the hallway of pictures between Mabee and McClellan...and see my twin named Alice. She is in a big frame with two smaller pictures - one of a man and one of her. I really should get a scholarship for being related or something! 

*Serenades - and the time the Betas decided to jump over the wall between Flippen and Perrin with balloons stuffed in their shirts to look like ladies. However, they quickly realized it is harder to jump over walls with extra "baggage" so they took the balloons out, threw them over the wall first, then jumped over and put them back in! It's not that easy for real ladies, boys! lol

*Festival of Christmas rehearsals - Better known as a lot of "FOCin" fun (and maybe a little torture!) ha

*My very first international mission trip (and first international trip at all) - Senegal West Africa with the Campus Ministries group - Laura-Mo was our leader, and a group of us traveled there May 20-June 10, 2006. My life will never be the same. And a piece of my heart is still there. Through that trip, I realized God has placed a calling in my heart for mission work!

*Singing a Mozart Requiem with the 100+ voice Concert Choir - A.MA.ZING!

*The Wellness swim test - a requirement to graduate...I passed...barely...enough said! 

*First Baptist Arkadelphia - my family for the five years I spent there

*Picnics by the river

*Snow - the first and only one of two snows during my five years there! (Nothing like the snow surprise this past winter!) It was Valentine's Day 2004 - a Saturday morning, and though it didn't stick much and there wasn't more than an inch, you better bet we were out playing in it, throwing it and sliding down the hill on "borrowed" cafeteria trays! (Ok I didn't participate in the sledding part, but I do remember it! haha) The second snow was during my last semester there - and I think it came in March. Just enough for my student teaching school to have a snow day....and everyone else at OBU to have class. It was a fun day off! :)

*The "Most Exciting Band in Tiger Land!" - I was in the drumline four of my five years there, and there will never be anything again quite like the rush of coming out on that field ready to get the crowd's attention! And nothing quite like all the sweaty practices either...

*Being the only girl snare drummer - My freshman year...another memory from band, but a big one - as the only girl snare drummer, I was the reason the boys couldn't have practices in their dorm...yes, they had to come all the way across campus to the music building because of "that dumb girl..." ha - oh well, it was good for them! 

*Education classes - so many memories of great classmates, making notebooks, challenging professors, and lots of learning...and of course, who could forget the "Five C's" and "The Block?!" I was in the group of student teachers to experience the last "Block" (three weeks of 8-5 intensive study and classes before going out to student teach) at OBU. 

*Homecoming 2007 - I got to be one of the representatives, and it was just exciting to be a part of it all

*TWIRP 2007 - After four years at OBU, I FINALLY got brave enough to ask a friend to go...we went to the "Play Date" evening with kids' games and activities. I also got invited to the Chiote Date Night that semester too...another fun memory.

*Trips to Lake Degray, Hot Springs, and Little Rock

*Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks- and all the random conversations, laughs, and sometimes even cries I had there with friends 

*Mass Junk Mail days - Hey it was just nice to have something in the mailbox, you know? We always knew coming down the steps of the student center it was one of those days because of the brightly colored stream of papers decorating the inside of the closest garbage cans...ha

*Watching the guys "slack-line" between the trees in front of Cone Bottoms - or whatever that fancy rope walking thing is called...lol...then when I saw other guys doing it my fifth year there, I wanted to say, "Hey - you aren't first...there were cooler guys who did that first here, you know?!" 

*Tiger Jam - the basketball pep band...and our many "creative" cheers and uh, "distractions" to the other teams...the best memory ever is of a coach from the opposing team who was not being very "polite" with his words and actions. He had on a very 1980s sweater vest, and one of the guys in our crowd (who I admit was also not very polite) shouted, "Hey Coach! Mr. Belvedeer called and he wants his sweater vest back!" Oh man, we could have all rolled laughing! 

*The Gum Tree - by the old bridge that went to Daniel. I'm still sad to see it all gone, though the new developments are pretty and fancy...I remember seeing it on move in day when my room mate who had been there before pointed it out as she stuck her gum on it when we crossed the bridge

*Open Dorm Night - yes, when I was there it only happened once a semester for 3 hours on a Saturday night, and it rotated - girls dorms/guys dorms. By the time I graduated I think it was any night all week for either gender with check-in at the desk and doors left open, of course. 

*Accidentally driving to Gurdon - during the New Student Retreat the month before I moved there. My room mate for the retreat borrowed a friend's car, and we were headed to Mc Donalds late at night...or so we thought - until we wound up in Gurdon at the creepy Industrial Park where we had to turn around and drive back to Arkadelphia. We finally did make it to Mc Donalds by the way! :)

*The #1 Taco Salad in Bismarck! (It's still there - go check it out! haha)

*COPE (Community Outreach Program through English) -  with Mrs. Cosh, Mrs. Jones, and several other wonderful staff and students...we spent a few hours together each Tuesday night teaching ESL and building relationships with internationals from our campus, HSU, and the community. What a blessing that was to me... I miss it so much!

*Meeting friends, family, and professors who impacted me for a lifetime with memories, learning, and growth that has changed me forever! 

I couldn't possibly list every memory here...and I'm sure there are many I have forgotten, but you've probably been reading awhile! I am thankful for the memories I do have...for the way that God led me to that little university at the end of my senior year of high school and how he provided every step of the way for me to be there. I love what Ouachita means to me and the place it will always have in my life and my heart! Thanks for reading...I'm looking forward to blogging again next week and to reading everyone else's memories too!