It’s been a few years since I attended Homecoming at Slippery Rock but today I made my return to the green and white school.
2021 even with its hardships (my health scare, my uncle’s passing, uncertainty at work due to the WIS-RGIS merger, fear of some people’s opinions over my being different) has gone well so far. Some of the great stories of this year include: Rob and Sara’s wedding, turning 40, Greensburg Toastmasters achieving Presidents Distinguished, finally celebrating my Distinguished Toastmaster award, and the best would be embracing my gender nonconformity.
Today instead of learning at the Fall Symposium, I made the drive up to Slippery Rock for the annual homecoming. It was nice to celebrate it after not being able to a year ago due to COVID.
It started out a little disappointing because there was no homecoming parade due to the weather. There was severe weather this morning in the area but overall I feel it was just a precaution. Still with the rain the parade could have gone on. I arrived at 9:30 and took a walk around campus. I signed up for the alumni lunch which they hold in the tent right by the football stadium. John Greaves continues to play the tunes during homecoming as their official DJ. There was great food which was catered by the university and beer from North Country Brewing. Most of the day I’ve been spending dodging the raindrops. I stayed dry in the tent ⛺️ during lunch. There were a lot of carnival games and even rides in the tailgating area which I never saw before.
After lunch I made my way to the Bob (the new University Union named after the university’s former President. He was my president when I attended in the mid 2000s. I bought a T-shirt and sweatshirt from the bookstore and then got my Starbucks fix. I ordered an Apple Crisp Macchiato.
I then made my way down to the stadium for the football game against IUP. It was halftime by the time I arrived and Slippery Rock was down 24-7. The 2021 Homecoming Court was announced and so were the winners. A chosen group of Slippery Rock’s best alumni were honored. The marching band put on a great show.
One of the color guards looked like Jason Momoa. I was in full gender nonconformity mode today with my mint blazer and matching scrunchie and pink Coach purse. I chatted with an alum and she was all about my jacket and Coach purse. I mentioned the color guard to Paula and that got us started chatting on messenger. She even changed her theme to Love and that got us started on a tangent as well. We talked about what our messenger themes would be.
I made my way home in a good mood after one of my better homecoming experiences in a long time. Forever I was remembering my college days and wanted them back. This was the first time I’ve actually felt content at where I am in life.
I think my homecoming experience was reborn today and I owe all of that to the recent success in my life.
Stylish 🍒 