When I book weddings I get the locations, the date, all the info, I put them in my files and as the date gets closer I start getting familiar with the info. Some are over a year away, some are quicker, but no matter I never really know the exact location I am going until the night before or the morning of. It is my system, it works, I always have a sense of how far it is so I would never be late. Last week I was driving to a wedding and it was 10 minutes from Anna’s campus, I really had no idea, it was a surprise. I took a few minutes to drive around her campus saw her dorm, it was cool.

Then today, off to another wedding, this time it was all familiar roads, turned out to be 10 minutes from my first campus. Franklin Pierce College (then) – now University according to the sign. So after the wedding I took the rest of the road, the additional 10 minutes and toured my old campus. I had not been there in 26 years, I did not stay long today, or back then. Even though my stay was short back then it was part of it all. The first place I left home for, my first real risk, my first real mistake. It was surreal to be there with Anna going off to her school in a matter of days.

That was my room, from the left 4 floors up, 4 windows over, I remember so much, but I can’t tell you the name of my roommate. The college is now bigger in name and campus, new fields, new buildings, my favorite spot was the “barn” that looked over Pearly Lake is still there with some updates and expansions. It is strange how it worked out that in these two weeks I would end up being so close to both campuses. I kind of like my system, they were nice surprises.

tr/trp