to be a Tiger

We had the privilege of taking the boys over to Clemson on Friday morning to give them a little taste of heaven. They loved it and so did we!  The air was cleaner, the people are nicer, and it’s just plain peaceful.

I remember walking around campus as a student seeing families playing on Bowman, getting ice cream, or showing their children Death Valley and thinking those years were so very far from me. They were definitely closer than I imagined and I couldn’t wait for them!

Years of the most wonderful memories flooded my mind as we walked downtown and up to Tillman. They were more than just the football games I went to and cheered my heart out for the Tigers. They were beyond the classes I attended and events I went to.

The memories that consumed me were the thousands of times I walked Perimeter Road with friends and had conversations that spurred one another on in our walks with Christ. The relationships that were built on sunny days playing on Bowman. Worshipping together in Tillman with 1000 other believers every Thursday night at FCA. The moment I met my husband and began a relationship with him. The late nights of so much fun with roommates and friends. The tree that I always studied under in the botanical gardens. My roommates that I love so dearly and have so many wonderful memories with. The friendships that were built over countless meals together or long weekend trips. The lifelong lessons. And of course all the sporting events adorned in orange with tiger paws on my cheeks beside my closest friends.

I will never again have those years back but I am so very thankful for them. I cannot imagine if the Lord had not led me to such a wonderful place. It was the ONLY college I applied to and quite honestly, I don’t know exactly how I got in. It was very clearly the Lord’s will.

The Clemson spirit is IN YOU from the moment you step on the campus as a freshman. It just is and the only way to know it is to be a student. There is something about that place. Maybe it’s the sunsets or the mountains in clear view. Maybe it’s the peacefulness in the beauty of the campus. Maybe it’s the bells that play from Tillman. I’m sure it’s all of those things but for me, it is the fact that God developed and changed me so much in those four years. He placed friendships in my life, REAL friendships that will last a lifetime.  And I got to do it all at Clemson University.

I know I can never portray as accurately as I would hope to my own children my college experience. But it is my hope that they will have one very similar wherever they choose to go. I think they enjoyed their taste of being a Tiger and it will forever be strongly encouraged in or house! 

Nathan, Allison and Garrett went with us too! 

"Mommy, you and Daddy went to school here?! Whoa. That's cool!" - Grey Bear

Little Tigers

Oh yeah. Dream come true.

"Mommy, THIS is where the Tigers play?! Whoa. That's cool! They must be sleeping." - Grey Bear