Oct 23, 2014

Looking Back, Oskee-Wow-Wow...



He sent me a text. 
It said,
 “Just listened to Oskee -Wow-Wow Illinois. 
Misty eyes. 
Miss that place.”

I smiled.
It was not the first time he had spoken those words, 
though it had been awhile.

It had been awhile since we lived in Illini Country.

I wondered,
does he miss the Illini that much?
Does he have a vested interest? Is it his alma mater?
Did our kids go there?

Or is it something else?
Is it that these were magical moments in our life?
This is the place we grew up together. Where we drank deeply the sweet life in a town that embraced us.
Where we fell in love with corn and farmers and a team that wore orange and blue.

We learned there were sunsets without mountains to hide behind. We felt wind on our face and watched tornados twirl overhead. We felt heat off pavement that we believed an egg might fry on.

Days filled with sports and dance and walks in fields with four legged friends. Books were read, meals enjoyed, deep conversations shared with friends.

Friends that have stood the test of time. Now children, who stand taller than us,  seek one another out in different states, continuing the relationship their parents forged. 

Perhaps this is what makes the man misty eyed.
Perhaps this is what he thinks of when he listens to the sweet lyrics of the song.

Old Princeton yells her Tiger, Wisconsin, her Varsity
And they give the same old Rah, Rah, Rah,
At each University,

But the yell that always thrills me
And fills my heart with joy,
Is the good old Oskee-Wow-Wow,
That they yell at Illinois.

He is a sweet man who sings along…
Who knows there is no going back, as he embraces the gifts of his present and future. 

A solid man, that appreciates the past and still gets misty eyed… because time goes so fast.

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