Memories of Green and Gold

The old bells from atop Pat Neff Hall resonated across the stately campus.  Evenly spaced lamp posts casting soft light into the night shed a glow onto the red brick pathways.  A student or two sauntered by, but most were elsewhere, leaving me and my thoughts alone to ponder my new situation.  For me, it all seemed too good to be true.  I wondered how many others sat on that very bench.  How many others may have felt the very way I felt?  I took the walk to that bench after moving all of my things into my new room just two blocks away.  Classes for the fall 1994 semester would begin in a couple days, and I had time to explore this wonderful, albeit somewhat intimidating, new place.

Being at Baylor was my chance to be the version of myself that I wanted to be -- me, reinvented.  Even in those days, I drew parallels between life and automobiles.  So, I felt like I had been unveiled after two years of intense redesigning.  I was a version of myself that only slightly reflected what I was before.  If I were advertising myself in a television ad, the voiceover would have been something like, Introducing the all-new 1994 Jerome Cone.  Excellence through evolution.

So, it was wonderful to walk on those same brick pathways again just two days ago.  So much was exactly as it was in 1994.  Yet there were several new buildings and additions that added to the campus' romance.  Even the new buildings had been designed to appear as if they had been there all along, complete with red brick exteriors and tall steeples pointing toward the heavens.  Things were in full vigor as students made their way from one class to the next, riding bikes and walking beneath the 150 year-old oak trees.  Many listened to iPods, while others laughed with fellow students as they strolled.

I felt a tinge of envy.  There was a slight urge to return to a time when my only responsibilities were to study and learn.  Stepping into marble-lined walls of the Hankamer School of Business, I was thrown back to a time when I studied the disciplines of accounting and finance and marketing.  My mouth watered a bit when I saw that a financial markets lab had been added.  It was a state-of-the-art room with flat panel computer monitors showing real-time market data scrolling across.   CNN Money played on two large flat panel TVs mounted on the wall.  I think I would have enjoyed a class in there.

After a bit more strolling around, I eventually had to make my way back to the Marriot Courtyard where I would ready myself for a day of work.  Later, as the airplane climbed out over the Waco, I looked down at the campus and felt a lasting surge of positivity.  I mentioned none of my campus visit to my first officer, as he would almost certainly not understand my sentiments.  So, I kept things to myself and enjoyed the glow I felt from within.

Thank you, Baylor, for all the memories.  I'll visit again soon.