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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

It's been 10 whole years...

I had a fantastic weekend. Better than fantastic. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I'll go ahead and embarrass myself...I cried after the said weekend was over. I cried a few times. I couldn't pull myself together. I think part of it was sleep deprivation. But part of it was a lot more than that.

Jeremy and I went to our 10 year college reunion this past weekend. Do we look old enough to be out of college for 10 years? I think NOT. I'm sure that's what you were thinking too. ;) I did get asked once on campus if I was a student. Thank you 60-ish year old lady. I realize that everyone under 35 looks like a youngin' to you, but I'll take it any day. And yes, I did thank her, even if she didn't intend to compliment.

Jeremy and I met in college. We were 19 when we first introduced ourselves to one another. He had a few earings, bleached out hair and wide legged jeans. I thought I had him pegged and he wasn't my type. Nor would I ever be his. It was a short 6 months later that I really had the priviledge to know more than just his name and his hometown. October of 1999 he was my date to a Greek function. He was chosen for me by someone else. And it wasn't long after that date, that I quickly fell in love that with that laid-back, fun, trendy clothed boy. And lucky for me, he fell in love too. I think that is such a huge reason this place, Abilene, Texas...Hardin-Simmons University holds very fond memories for me. At this special place, Jeremy and I met, developed a friendship, fell in love, broke up and recommitted. And at the end of our senior year we were engaged to be married. A little drama (including, but not limited to, the break up), but a whole lot of fun and some very special memories linger when I think of this place. I teasingly told Holden and Pax that I would show them the place that mommy and daddy shared their first kiss. I don't think they really cared. ;)

Unfortunately for Jeremy he spent many hours working (waiting tables for the most part) during our college years. But fortunately for me, that gave me a lot of time with my friends, independent from him. I have a feeling if he had worked a whopping 15 hours a week on campus, like I did, we would have been glued to one another in our spare time. What can I say...we loved our time together. But because he was busy working to support himself while in college, I have a brain FULL of memories with my girlfriends. I could spend hours telling anyone that cared to listen of the fun memories that took place during those 4 years.

So last Friday, as we drove on campus I got a little swept away in all of the memories. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face. It had been 8 years since we had visited this special place. It looked so different with tons of new buildings on campus. But it also looked very much the same. Very familiar. Then on Sunday, as we drove away from the campus, it happened again. I got a little swept away and the tears wouldn't stop coming. Jeremy was sweet but didn't quite understand. And to be honest, I don't either. I love my current life. Please don't misinterpret. But I think there is a part of me that longs to repeat history. Sometimes I think that I would do it all over again if given the opportunity. And right now, I'm just a little tender and achey for the past. So weird. Right? I do realize that I may sound a little like Tim McGraw in the movie Friday Night Lights. I'm not proud of that. Just trying to be authentic, even if it makes me appear a little pathetic.

So I've been thinking this week, I bet there were times that I wanted to be out of college and moving on...marrying my sweet love, starting a family, being done with all the classes. And here I am kind of wishing to be back in that place. So my lesson from this is that I should never rush towards the future because I might miss the past. Pretty good, huh? I may have unintentionally stolen that from some deep philosopher. But I'm pretty sure it just came about in my brain yesterday.

Here are a few pictures from our weekend. I barely touched my camera, so luckily I had some sweet friends share there pictures with me.
This greeted us on Friday when we entered the campus.
We took the boys on a little stroll around campus Friday afternoon.  I'm pretty sure they loved it and plan on enrolling in 14 and 15 years . . . if I let them move that far away from me. ;)
A small portion of my pledge class at a Saturday morning breakfast. Those 2 little Greek letters changed my college experience, for the better. And it helped me in creating some friendships that I'll never let go of. It also aided me in snagging my husband. :)
We stayed with some friends that we hadn't seen in YEARS. So the boys got to make some new friends. :)
 My hot date for our reunion dinner.  I really do cherish the fact that he was such a huge part of my college experience. It's fun for us to look back together on so many shared experiences.
 The girls attended All School Sing on Saturday night. The boys stayed back with the kiddos since it made for a late night.  And here is Sigma Alpha performing. They won it! We were pretty proud.
 Some Sigma Alpha spirit (blue and green fake lashes, necklaces and glow bracelets).
 Such fun to watch...but it was so much more fun being on stage...back in the day.
And some pictures of my future HSU Cowboys!
 
Looks like this one might attempt to be a cheerleader, but that's ok. We'll deal with it. :)
 
What a great weekend! It really was. But it's time to face the music and be 32. There is no possible way to go back to 1999. I've already looked into it. They said no. :)


3 comments:

everyday graces said...

Hey girl I'm right there with ya! I loved college and also met my love there. Lucky for me Stephen is on the Alumni board so we have been going to Homecoming for the last few years since he helps out with the parade, 5k, etc. I get so nostalgic and kind of wish I were back there even though I wouldn't give up what I have now. I just loved college. I had my Kappa Phi sweet 16 reunion last year and loved seeing all my old girlfriends. So fun! So I know exactly how you feel. Go Bulldogs! :-)

The Skains Family said...

I loved this post! I wish I could have been there. It's hard to believe it's been 10 years. Those were definitely some of the best years and how fun would it be to go back, just for a little bit. I have a feeling that's how we will feel about these years with our babies. Sometimes it's hard not to look forward to the future when everyone is more independent but these years will be gone before we know and you know we shed tears when these years are gone! Miss you friend and thanks for the post and letting me live it through you.

Amanda said...

I did not know you went to Hardin Simmons! I grew up near there. It was my summer home- I went to camps there every summer and in college I drove to Abilene almost every week for Grace.