WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN LIFE THROWS YOU A CURVE BALL?

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

You Can't Go Home Again...


But apparently - you can go back to college. This weekend, I found myself re-tracing steps I haven't taken for over a decade. There I was, back at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey to attend the New Jersey International Film Festival's screening of "Milestone". It's been MORE THAN A DECADE since I was last there... had I mentioned that? Longer than a two-term presidency. About the same length that CHEERS and BEVERLY HILLS 90210 were on the air. It took less years for WHAM! to create "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" and then disband.

Ten Years.

As I think I mentioned in my previous entry, I'm not always the best at looking back, but surprisingly, visiting my old dorm (Go Demarest Hall!) and driving past my old off-campus house was awesome. Beyond some minor revisions, (why oh why do the grease trucks need to provide people with tables???), the campus looked pretty much the same. The weirdest thing about it all was that I felt as if I'd never left. Walking among the students around campus I felt like I was 21 again. Each block, each corner, brought back memories from school... 'this is where my friend drank too much for her 21st birthday'... 'this is where I made out with my date until someone interrupted us to ask for directions'... Whoosh... it all came flooding back.



I'll admit, I was prepared too feel affronted by the experience, but in actuality I relished it. Cooler than the places I visited was the people I got to hang with - one of whom I hadn't seen for many, many years. Swapping stories - who's pregnant, who's moving in with someone, who's getting a divorce (ahem...) was great. Like I had hoped, talking about my breakup, the changes in my life felt fine. It simply felt like my life.

Maybe I'm settling in after all...

1 comment:

shannon said...

I applaud and admire your participation in a reunion, albeit a small one. It looks like you had a great time!