Another Reason I Love My Job

This is what appeared in my DePauw University email inbox this morning, from our university president, Brian Casey:

Dear Colleagues,

As we look back on a warm and successful commencement weekend, I write to express my deep gratitude for all that you have done for our students, and this University, throughout this academic year.

To show my appreciation I would like to ask that all offices close today at 2:00 p.m. if possible.  We will be showing the movie “Hoosiers” in Kresge Auditorium at that time and I would like to offer you all a chance to relax, recover and enjoy an afternoon away from our regular responsibilities.  We will have popcorn and other refreshments.

I know that some offices might not be able to adjust schedules, but I do hope that as many of you as possible can join us.  Also, please know that family members are more than welcome to come.

I hope to see you today at 2:00 for the movie.

Best,
Brian

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Well, of course I skedaddled out of my Prindle Institute office at 1:45 and trotted down to campus with my friend Linda. We waited in the short line for free popcorn, drinks, and movie candies. I chose Raisinets. 

I had never seen the film before, though it's been on my loving-Indiana to-do list. It was the perfect valentine to my adopted state, with its landscape of weathered barns and stubbled fields, as well as the perfect summation to a year in which our DePauw women's basketball team won the national Division III championship (with me cheering in the stands for many of the games). Even though I knew how the story ended, I squirmed and writhed during every losing game in the first half of the film.  Oh, please, please, please, let them win!  And then they DID win, with seconds to spare, and the movie was over, and we all burst into applause. I finished the last kernels of popcorn and the last delicious candies in the very large box of Raisinets. 

This was not at all a bad way to spend a Monday afternoon on the day after commencement.