This past Saturday I was invited to come to my undergraduate alma mater for a book signing at homecoming. It rained the entire time so it put a damper on things but overall it was a good experience.
I live about 7 hours away from campus so it is difficult to get there and it was my first trip there in at least 10 years. I am fairly certain that the number of buildings built since my leave have doubled. Two of the houses I lived in are no longer there and one of the dorms is being renovated to become home to offices.
There are numerous renovations to the buildings and campus grounds that almost make for an entirely different school. I wrote my upcoming novella titled Just Friends with much of the story taking place on Emory’s campus. I had done my research on the changes and hopefully nailed it in the story because my Emory experience back then was not exactly the same as it is now. This is not a negative by any means. I just wanted to capture the present day campus and not that of 16 years ago.
The last thing I got to do before leaving was eat lunch with my dear friend Kathi, one of the most amazing persons I’ve ever met. My vocabulary isn’t large enough to explain how incredible she is and how happy I was to see her. Our old daily hangout had also been remodeled but we picked up right where we left off. Meeting Kathi was by far one of the best things to come from my time at Emory.
Kathi, if you’re reading this I love and miss ya! Looking forward to the next visit.
D. W. Saur 