Alma Mater

I got the chance yesterday to visit the University of Central Florida for the first time in years. I had planned on visiting the campus bookstore on this trip anyway because I wanted to get a new UCF sweatshirt. I want something warm and casual to wear around the house... My old UCF sweatshirt, being purchased back in the '90s, the last time I was on campus, is getting a bit threadbare.

The fact that an old friend from college started emailing me a month ago didn’t enter into my desire to visit the campus. Really!

I spent yesterday afternoon having lunch and then touring the newer parts of the campus with her and seeing the sights. Wow! How much the campus has changed! When I started in the early '80s, the campus had perhaps a dozen buildings on it and housing for about 400 students on campus. I cannot guess how many students can be housed there now. But I am informed as of this fall's enrolment figures, it is the largest university in Florida.


Looking at it in Google Earth later on, I cannot believe how the campus has grown! I guess I can, I have to; I've seen it!

Today, I am starting to help Mary with the cooking chores. Tomorrow is the big Thanksgiving feast with all the Bergquists at the same table for the first time in years. There is a lot of cooking to do! It is at times like this when I am reminded of the line Gene Wilder (as Willie Wonka) speaks in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: "So much time, so little to do. No! Wait a minute. Strike that; reverse it."

I hope wherever you are today, your day is filled with pleasant anticipation of things to come and memories of what has been!

Don Bergquist - 22 November 2006 - Apollo Beach, Florida