Purple and Gold

So apparently I'm a day late, but better late than never I suppose.  Yesterday, all students, alumni, and faculty were supposed to blog about Ouachita and their experiences there.  Since I have both a four year experience as a student and an almost 7 year experience as a wife of one who works there, I don't think it's too far of a stretch to say that my blood runs in two colors.  Going to the heart, it's purple...coming from, it's gold.  OBU experiences make up a third of my life. 

Just 10 years ago, my parents were making the four hour journey to OBU to drop off their firstborn, and dragging a quarter of the stuff in their house with them (or so it seemed).  My dad and brother went in one vehicle and my mom and I in the other.   I was being transferred from one bubble to another.  As we neared campus, my mom broke down...and you know that when your mom breaks down, your own tears follow.  So here we are...two blubbering women...a car full of estrogen.  Now I know why my dad and brother didn't want to ride in one. I was scared.  They were scared for me.  As we blubbered about, both of us looked ahead and saw this oddly shaped rainbow.  It wasn't a full rainbow.  Only half.  But it was brighter than any I'd ever seen.  It seemed to come from high in the sky and end...you guessed it....right over where OBU's campus would have been.  We weren't but a few miles from the exit, so as soon as we got out, we asked my dad and brother what they thought of it.  Neither had seen it.  Seriously?  How could they not have seen it? It was there for a full 5 minutes at least.  Still, to this day, I don't know why only we saw it.  We sure weren't imagining it.  At any rate, the two of us saw it as a promise from God...a promise that this was where I was meant to be, and that everything was going to be ok.  Whether or not it was, that's what it served as for us, and we were ok with that. 

OBU is where I first felt like I belonged.  It was where I found myself. It was where I found lifelong friends. It was where I found my passion for youth. And best of all, it was where I found my husband.  And now it's where I take my two children to play and enjoy the outdoors. 

So backtrack all the way back to 1996 when I stepped onto campus for the first time as an eager sophomore in high school already looking at colleges.  I felt it was where I belonged from the moment I stepped onto campus, but it became an almost audible whisper from God as I stood out on the balcony on the winding stairs overlooking the river.  OBU was where I belonged.  Thanks, God for that whisper on the stairs.  I hung on those words.  And that rainbow...I'll never forget the feeling of peace that enveloped my very being at that moment.