I took him to the AOII house and showed him where Anna and I lived our senior year. I also discovered that the Five Points Jittery Joes closed, and I was very close to shedding a tear.
We drove around campus. I showed him the riveting-yet-bizarre Tree That Owns Itself. Then we walked through downtown, walked under the Arch (just because, now that I've graduated, I can), and walked all around North Campus. I did all I could to fill Jayson's brain with facts on the chapel bell and Herty Field and Old College and everything else I knew from my Georgia Recruitment Team days.
We made our way down to Sanford Stadium and the bookstore, which is really where I went full-force into, "I'm going to make you fall in love with this school" mode. Tales of games Between the Hedges, a humming reenactment of the trumpeter playing "Glory, Glory" before the game, vivid descriptions of Southern tailgates. Ahh...there is nothing like a fall Saturday in Athens!
Jayson voluntarily bought a little UGA souvenir at the bookstore. I think he's cracking.
We finished the day with a walk downtown to Last Resort, where we talked about favorite college experiences, ate a delicious meal and shared a great bottle of wine. Also, I set our bread basket on fire.
There's a t-shirt somewhere that says, "They say if you live a good life, when you die you go to Athens." While I'm pretty confident that's theologically inaccurate, the sentiment is true. I loved my time at Georgia and love Athens dearly still...it was so special to share it with Jayson!
Go Dawgs!
