On our recent jaunt through northwest Alabama and Kentucky, hub and I made a pit stop in Clarksville, Tennessee. It's less than an hour from Nashville, set against the Cumberland River. The town was voted 2019's #1 Best Place to Live in America by Money Magazine. It's not too big and not too small, just lovely. My mom and Dad both went to Bethel College, which was razed in 1966, and then to Austin Peay State College, now Austin Peay State University. It's a beautiful University, with some of the original buildings still standing. Of course it's grown and changed over the years, but my parents walked the grounds many years ago, so I had to see it.
Hub and I explored the campus and I imagined Daddy courting Momma there. He wasn't much of a flirt, so that was a challenge! Some nice gentlemen allowed us onto the football field and we took pictures to send to the oldest. Then we went to the bookstore so I could buy the boys a shirt from their grandparent's school. That's where our catch phrase was discovered.
As I was looking around for shirts supporting the Governor's of Austin Peay, hub began to laugh. He'd found a shirt that said, "Let's Go Peay!" We shared several minutes of intense cackling because it struck a familiar chord with us. Now I don't know about you, but as we've aged, our bladders have not been able to hold as long as they did in our younger days. We often chuckle about the number of pit stops we must take on road trips. Detours are mostly found as a result of frequent trips to truck stops and rest areas. That may be too much information, but it's the truth. Just keeping it honest. We dared each other to buy it, but just couldn't. I didn't know if I really wanted to plaster my aging issue on the front of my chest. I understand the shirt was intended to support the university, but it would only remind me of my weak bladder. Call me in denial or vain, I don't care. That shirt wasn't coming home with me.
After the trip, I found my parent's college yearbooks. I loved flipping through the pages and seeing the fashions from the late 50s. They used words like "dilly" to describe a test. They had an aquatic club that presented synchronized swimming shows. There was a Galois Club for the "brains" in math. The band wore top hats and tails. Skirts were longer and hair was shorter. I found some great pictures of my parent's Bethel and Austin Peay days I'll share below. To the Austin Peay Governor's of past and present, we say, "Let's go Peay!" As silly as it is, that still makes me laugh.
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