On Thursday, May 8, an event took place for We Are in Philly, a support group for Penn State football.
I decided to go alone.
I arrived around 6:30, and there were a few people present for the VIP group, but I opted for General Admission, so I wouldn’t get a drink until 7:00pm.
As always, I feel nervous when I go by myself because of my Aphasia, especially when I become anxious about talking to someone I don’t know.
The first person I saw was James Franklin. I approached him and introduced myself. I mentioned that I attended Penn State in 1977, played soccer, and that Char Morett Curtiss was one of my best friends. I explained that I had a stroke five years ago, that I have aphasia, and that I struggle with my language. He was very nice and stayed with me for a few minutes.
Well, that went smoothly.
I was walking around and still hadn’t seen anyone I knew. Then another person introduced me to him. He said his name was Stan Drayton, and I introduced myself to him. I didn’t recognize who he was. I asked him what he did. He mentioned that he was the football coach for the Penn State running backs. I immediately remembered that he started a few months ago at Penn State. We talked for 15 minutes. Of course, I told him that I had aphasia, as it makes me more comfortable, knowing I might say something odd using the wrong words or can’t seem to figure out how to express something. He asked me a few questions about aphasia. I mentioned that I had tickets at Penn State but couldn’t attend night games because of the noise. He inquired about how it feels with the noise and aphasia. He asked me what it was like to be at Penn State in the 70s. I laughed, and suddenly, I shared stories about all the football players I lived with in my fraternity. I talked about Greg Buttle, Jack Ham, and others. I gave him my card and told him about the aphasia stories I share on my website, aphasia-rocks.com, and psu-aphasia.com. I told him it was nice to meet him and hoped to see him again soon.
I walked around again and saw Christian Hackenberg. I encouraged myself to speak with him, introduced myself, and reminded him that I had spoken at the Aronimink Golf Club event a year ago.
Wow, three people to whom I had forced myself to talk!
Okay, one last person to talk to him: Adam Taliaferro was still there, and I had met him at the Paterno candlelight vigil during the Philadelphia LOVE event about 10 years ago. I spoke there when I recounted the story of when Joe Paterno and his wife visited my fraternity because we were discussing why he did not want any more football players to join our house. (That is another story to tell about that one.) I remembered Adam from that time, and I am not sure he knew, but at least I introduced myself again.
Okay, that was about all the people I knew. I listened to Go-Go Gadjet, a band that began playing at Penn State in 2005. While I was listening, another person approached me and said, “Thanks for coming to the event and for your support of Penn State.” Of course, I didn’t remember his name, but he told me he played football at Penn State and hoped to graduate in 2006. At that point, I realized I had a nice time, and it was probably a good time to go home.
