August was a flurry of going back to school and getting in our groove. At work we had numerous meetings, receptions, parties and other events coming in the months ahead that needed planning, so it was a busy time.
The weekend of August 23rd, Mona, Betsy and I went to Marie's in StarkVegas for a Girl's Weekend, and boy did we need it. The weather was rainy and gloomy and we loved it. We sat and talked and ate and drank and talked and laughed and had a great time. We so need to do it more often. None of us wore a stitch of makeup the entire weekend. Strangely enough, I didn't take a single picture.
We were all going Nutts waiting for football season to begin. We joined the West Point tailgate this year and the season started on August 30th with a home game against Memphis, which we won. Things would get better from there.
In September, Ole Miss was scheduled to host the first Presidential Debate of the election year. On Tuesday, September 2, the University kicked off Debate Month by hosting our Naturalization Ceremony at Fulton Chapel. We held Court there that day and the Honorable Mike Mills naturalized over 200 people, which was a record number for our Court. It was also the first time our Court had ever been held outside the walls of one of our Federal Buildings. It was a great and very memorable day.
Several days before the Debate, McCain announced that because of the financial crisis, he felt the need to go back to DC to do what he could to help, and suggested that Obama do the same. He wanted to postpone/reschedule the Debate. Jeeze!
The whole town held its breath for two days. Ole Miss stuck to the schedule and most of us took our kids out of school on Debate Day. Sallie and I took Nicky and Abby to the Grove. We visited Issue Alley and the candidates' tents and listened to speeches. We kept a watchful eye out for Oprah or Katie Couric or Kay Bain, or any other celebrity that might be wandering amongst us. Nicky collected bumber stickers and decals for Ronnie and Roger, got a Thad t-shirt and a "Clean Coal" baseball cap. He had pamphlets for everything from Darfur and Rednecks for Obama to the Gay/Lesbian Alliance. Abby humored me and patiently tolerated hanging out with her Mommy. I know she would rather have been running willy nilly with her friends we kept seeing running willy nilly. She is such a good sport.
As it turned out both McCain and Obama went up to DC. I don't know what kind of help they provided on the big FC, but they had some great photo ops. Anyhow, on September 26th, just in the nick of time, they arrived at Ole Miss. We left the Grove that afternoon and the only way out was down Sorority Row and onto Jackson Avenue. We were heading East on Jackson and as we were about to cross Washington Avenue, a motorcade of about 20 State Trooper cars and 10 big black SUVs passed in front of us. We knew McCain was already in town so we knew it had to be Obama. That night we went downtown and watched the Debate on the big screen set up on the Historic Oxford Square, from the balcony of Ken Coghlan's Law Office. Ken, being the devoted father that he is, was at a sporting event watching his son play, so Tom Levidiotis was our host for the Debate Party in Ken's digs. And a fine job he did too!!
As you can see, as usual, Sallie was in the right place at the right time . . .
The next night, the 27th, we were scheduled to have a small 25th Anniversay Dinner with Leslie and John, and Baker and Holley and Beau at the Downtown Grille. I felt really bad that Abby and Nicky were being excluded. Eden, Baker and Holley and I were supposed to pick Beau up on our way. When we got to Beau's, Baker went in to get him and we sat in the car. Then Baker called (from 100 fee away) to say that Beau couldn't find one of his shoes. We waited and waited. Finally, I said "he's going to make us late. I'm going in there!" Holley said, "I'll go!" And she jumped out of the car and went in. We waited and waited some more and finally they came out. Then we had to go to the liquor store. I was trying to keep my cool so the evening wouldn't start off on a sour note. I decided they could deal with Leslie if they made us late. When we got there, they led up upstairs. We went to one door and Baker decided that, no, that door wasn't good, we should go around to another door. When he was satisfied that he had found the good door we went in. He sent me in first and then Eden. Inside, were the rest of our children and our closest friends. They had been planning this for over a month and no one had let anything slip! Of course, no one filled Nicky in until the night of. We watched a video that Leslie had made us and we even got presents! It was the perfect Anniversary party. Here are some pictures and someday I'll figure out how to add the video.
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