And another campus visit, and one we know rather well. I think I came to this stadium to see them play UT Chattanooga a long long time ago, but we have been back numerous times. It was not my school, but it is a top notch Engineering school, and a definite on Sam's list. We left early that morning to be at an engineering session at 9:30 that morning. Sam drove us down, getting a feel for these longer drives to college.
We stopped in Sylacauga at a Jacks for breakfast and had a good meal, but also had one of the best laughs of the day. As we were sitting and eating our meal, I mentioned maybe we would see Thomas today (as one of Sam's friends Thomas was randomly at the exact Mississippi State event we went to the previous month). Sam looked at me confused, then it finally dawned on him who I was talking about. Then he jokingly shared with me his inner monologue that led to this confusion..."Is dad talking about seeing Thomas the train? no...and it can't be Thomas the apostle? Oh, maybe it is Thomas my friend". Maybe it was the inner monologue voice he used as he told me this...or the fact that his rankings of Thomas go from train to apostle to friend...but we both almost went into hysterical laughter at this. And even as it randomly was remembered throughout the day, it brought rounds of chuckles. As I write this, Sam and Davis are sitting beside me at the table...and I relayed this memory...yep, we are still laughing about it.
The morning at Auburn was butt cold with a wind that was nasty. We quickly made our way from the stadium deck to the Engineering portion of campus and inside out of the wind. As we waited for the infosession, another student and his parents walked in that looked so familiar. But I could not place them. But after we all went into a smaller conference room to begin the session, I walked over and introduced myself, and then remembered that his father had once worshiped with us in Chelsea. Adam Jones was his name and his son Grant was actually in my class at church a few times when they visited. Grant was now about 3 inches taller than me. Wish I would have gotten a picture, but the tours began, and I did not realize we would be going separate ways. Sam was the only one there interested in Electrical/Computer engineering, but it was nice as we had an EE that led the tour for us through that building. Auburn has got some serious money coming into their program, and it was evident all around.
After our tour, we met up with Sam's friend Palmer, who was on campus doing a tour of another of the schools at Auburn. And we met up at the perfect spot, Mama Goldbergs. Sam and I love this place, and while waiting for Palmer, we had already run thru the full game plan of what we wanted to eat for lunch. So we were ready to order as soon as Palmer and him mom arrived. And our second bout of laughter came as a result of the ordering process. Sam was standing next to me, and I told the cashier it would be the two of us on this ticket, and then I made our order...Three Mommas Loves All the Way (Yes, you hear that right, Three...we are growing boys...and don't get Mommas Love often), then two orders of Mamma's Nachos (no jalapenos...no thank you...only if Davis was with us), and then two regular drinks. The lady made no hesitation at my big order, she just looked over at Sam and asked in all seriousness "And what for you?" Sam's eyes got big, and he said "Oh no, that was for both of us". While we did not laugh there, I think we were both cracking up by the time we got over to the drink machines. "And what for you" became another fun trigger for the rest of the day.
After a big lunch, where I easily took care of my nachos and 1.5 sandwiches (Sam kindly "saved" a half sandwich for Anabelle), we walked over with Palmer to the school bookstore to look around before leaving to head back to Chelsea. Now it is all up to ACT scores and scholarships. Others on the list are Alabama and UAB, but no planned campus visits for them...yet. The visits to the colleges have been fun...eye opening on the prices...but more eye opening that my boy will soon be leaving the house. And the laughs like we had on this day just become precious treasures to me that I will try to write down in a blog so that I can read as I slowly play "Cats in the Cradle" on my guitar. Woah, that ending got more sad than I meant it to be...haha..."And what for you?"...there, that's better!
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