Patrick Donahue

Editor & General Manager

No hankering for any more salmon or honey, at least, no more than usual.

Really don’t feel like digging up grubs and worms.

But I am big fan of hibernating. Nothing like a good, long nap.

So there aren’t residual effects of the delicacy I had a weekend back, hanging out with some friends from my Georgia Southern days.

One of my buddies, who is still an avid outdoorsman, was out on a deer hunting quest. He’s also gone fishing in Cuba, but that’s another story for another time. Something approached him that he at first thought was a dog. Then he realized … that ain’t no dog.

Nope. It was a bear. As a result, that was on the menu for a night at the beach. Some onions and homegrown shiitake mushrooms, rice and bear au jus gravy and homemade muscadine wine. I’ve had quail, I’ve had venison and even though as a younger man I never thought I would eat that, I have become a big fan of sushi. So, I could bear to eat some bear. For our circle of Georgia Southern alums, along with those who married into it, we get together, or try to, for Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve. The Fourth is almost always down at the beach. It varies on who can make it.

At the beginning, it was all adults. Then it was adults and kids. Then more kids than adults. And now it’s back to almost all adults – with a couple of grand young’uns in tow. Never saw that coming.

New Year’s Eve has taken place all over the U.S., from a blizzard in Colorado Springs (skipped that one) to New York City last year (skipped that one too).

And we’ll have other occasions to hang out with each other throughout the course of the year, like visiting a camp site at Fort McAllister a few weeks ago. Some will meet up for an Atlanta United match.

Conversations always turn toward the topics of the day – and quite often, the topics of the past – and we do our best to avoid the p word. Politics. Can’t always do it, but we do try. No sense spoiling friendships of – is it really almost 40 years? – over who’s less qualified to hold office.

Regardless of when, where and how, we’re universally glad to see each other and spend even a little bit of time with each other. We have a group text chain, but even with that, there’s nothing like seeing each other again and having a good time, without having to wear a mask, and especially if one of them rescues your hat from a surging tide at Neptune Beach (thanks, KBR!).

This all started when we were in the Bell Honors Program together at Southern. Even after my time in the program came to an end (the choice of the administration, not mine. They said I had a bad attitude. Ha! I got more bad attitude than they got chalkboards) they still involved me in activities. I would say there are not pictures of me with a lamp shade on my head from one of our parties. That would be lying.

So it’s been nearly 40 years since kids from all over the state were catapulted together in the hopes they would form a cohesive group. We did. And we stayed that way. Wouldn’t have it any other way.

Oh, and the bear tasted a lot like pot roast.

But I could go for some salmon right about now. Or a good nap.