Fate

One might think that with this Third Genesis for a blog I might be fresh and present new ideas. While there are things swirling around in my head (a good friend of mine calls it marinating) once in a while a good re-run is worth paying attention to again. So it is with this entry, originally posted on my pre-existing venues. Since this shirt really meant so much to me, and with its loss, whatever affections that I'd bestowed upon the shirt are transferred to the blog entry about it. Some of you might read this and think I'm a case study. My ex-wife used to say, "It's just a shirt." But no, no it's not. Here's the entry:

Sometimes I just can't be so concise when it comes to telling a story. This one needs the long backstory so that the wondrousness of it will be apparent. On Wednesday June 3, 2009, a friend of mine alerted me to a special train move that would be happening soon. The following day he said the special would move that night. So I spent that night photographing this special train very late into the overnight, allowing myself only a few hour's sleep. I was looking forward to a nice, easy, relaxing friday at work since I had little sleep Thursday night and I'd be going away early in the morning on Saturday. Well, it didn't work out that way. A priority order came in for a customer and it needed to be done before I finished my shift Friday. Needless to say, my day went in the proverbial toilet after that. Add in the rain and by the time I was headed home I was caked in mud and soaking wet. Good thing I wasn't leaving for Pennsylvania that night. I thought I had everything I'd need packed by the time I went to bed Friday night and very early Saturday morning I hit the road.

The drive to my alma mater was very pleasant, even in the brief rain showers in the Poconos, I was just too happy to have a couple days away from the stresses of responsibilty. At the end of my road trip was a reunion for the volunteers of the college radio station, WQSU, where I was an on air disc jockey during the four years I was enrolled at Susquehanna University, serving as operations director of WQSU in my senior year. The reunion luncheon was a whole lot of fun and I was able to catch up with a few people I really wanted to see. Also, I learned just how fortunate the station was to have ever started, and then lasted for 42 years. It really seemed to be fate.

But that's not all. As faithful readers know, I really enjoy Marvel Comics' X-Men. At one time I had quite a library of X-Men comics and a handful of t-shirts; one of which I haven't stopped thinking about lately. I dug through my belongings in hopes to find it, to no avail. It is apparently disposed of. I've been wathcing e-bay for it with no luck. While reminiscing with one of the persons I'd hoped to see, we were glancing through a photo album. One of the photos was of my best friend on campus and I and in it I'm wearing the recently dreamt about X-Men t-shirt! I didn't think I'd ever see it again, yet there it was. Fate.