Fielder’s Choice

It was certainly a whirlwind weekend. It started at 7:30 a.m. Friday when we had two cars loaded to move our youngest, Erin, back to the University of Southern Mississippi for her sophomore year.

That was light compared to a year ago, when we had The South Reporter van loaded with furniture and more.

Erin assured me it wouldn’t be too bad this year either once we arrived at USM — just up one flight of stairs to the second floor. She’s staying in the Delta Gamma sorority house with one of her best friends, Rebecca, who she met her freshman year.

And she was right, her boyfriend Tommy and I only had to make like six trips up the stairway with all the stuff. And we were blessed with temperatures in the low 80s in south Mississippi.

It brought back memories of when we moved our oldest, Emma, to Southern Miss for her freshman year. We had more than one flight of stairs, and the temperature was right around 100 degrees.

I guess this is about 10 times Pam and I have helped move one of the three children — Andy, too — their time at USM.

We took a break for lunch, made a quick trip to Walmart to pick up a few more things and enjoyed a visit with her roommate’s parents, who have also become good friends. Then we headed back home, arriving in Holly Springs around midnight. I vowed once again that I would never make the trip all in one day — a total of about nine hours on the road.

Saturday night, I drove to Hamilton, Ala., for the induction ceremony for the Classes of 2020 and 2021 in the Marion County Sports Hall of Fame.

It was a special reunion of some of those closest to me from my growing-up years.

One of my high school basketball teammates, Jeff Clark, was inducted. And a few more of our classmates were in attendance, plus my high school basketball coach.

Jeff and I were talking to Coach Burnett, and Jeff said, “I couldn’t have scored all of those points if Barry hadn’t thrown me the ball.”

And, of course, I had to add, “And what about my defense?” We all enjoyed laughs and lots of reminiscing.

We took a group picture of the Class of 1979 members before I left. It’s another one I will add to my most cherished.

Then Sunday, Pam and I made a road trip to Aberdeen for a bridal shower for the daughter of two our best friends from our days of living and working in the Monroe County town.

I hadn’t seen Jeff and Kim Johnson and their daughters Katie and Kelsey in 22 years.

Katie was the same age as Emma, and Kelsey was the same age as Andy.

They grew up together in daycare and then on to the first couple of years of elementary school before our move to Laurel in 1999. They also played Tball and participated in other activities together.

Jeff and Kim moved to Texas in 2005, but they’re back in Mississippi. Pam has always kept in touch with Kim through social media, and Sunday it was like we just picked up where we left off.

We also got to see other friends from our nine years in Aberdeen. We relived lots of good times and shared many stories and fond memories.