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16 Years ain't no thing
May. 31st, 2012 10:39 amThis past weekend I went to my college reunion. It has been 16 years since I graduated, but because Oberlin does reunions in "clusters," it was officially called my 15th anniversary reunion (for the classes of 1996, 97, and 98). The last time I was in Oberlin was in 2002 for my 5th (really 6th) reunion, and it was there and then that I made the final definite decision to start trying to get pregnant; many interesting memories of intense conversations that weekend. I didn't go to the 10th because I had a toddler and a baby and just didn't think I could handle it.
This time around, I waffled mightily on the question of whether to bring the kids along. I waffled for so long that airfares zoomed up and sort of made the decision for me, although, to be honest, I had been leaning toward leaving them behind anyway. So I cut the weekend short by going out on Saturday morning (thus missing some Friday evening events) so as to only be gone for two overnights. My mom did me the enormous favor of taking charge of the kids for the whole weekend, which involved shuttling them to two Little League practices and arranging several playdates. She also took them out to our family's summer cottage for one of the nights, which sounds like it was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast.
( click here for the detailed travelogue, if you dare )
Overall I have mixed feelings about the reunion. I'm very glad that I went, and it was fantastic to see people and chat and hang out. It was really fun to see the campus and see what has and hasn't changed, to feel that weird "feels like just yesterday" feeling mixed with "I'm too old for this stuff now" ;) . So all of that was great. But the travel schedule that I ended up with meant that I only basically had a day and a half in Oberlin, which wasn't enough. I didn't get to check out all the places I wanted to see, and there were a couple of professors I didn't manage to connect with. And although I greatly enjoyed being able to go to late-night events without having to worry about the kids, there were also a bunch of events that they would have enjoyed, and it would have been fun to introduce them to my friends and see them play with my friends' kids. So, assuming that I go back again five years from now for the 20th, I'll definitely take the kids along, and we'll come earlier and stay later.
This time around, I waffled mightily on the question of whether to bring the kids along. I waffled for so long that airfares zoomed up and sort of made the decision for me, although, to be honest, I had been leaning toward leaving them behind anyway. So I cut the weekend short by going out on Saturday morning (thus missing some Friday evening events) so as to only be gone for two overnights. My mom did me the enormous favor of taking charge of the kids for the whole weekend, which involved shuttling them to two Little League practices and arranging several playdates. She also took them out to our family's summer cottage for one of the nights, which sounds like it was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast.
( click here for the detailed travelogue, if you dare )
Overall I have mixed feelings about the reunion. I'm very glad that I went, and it was fantastic to see people and chat and hang out. It was really fun to see the campus and see what has and hasn't changed, to feel that weird "feels like just yesterday" feeling mixed with "I'm too old for this stuff now" ;) . So all of that was great. But the travel schedule that I ended up with meant that I only basically had a day and a half in Oberlin, which wasn't enough. I didn't get to check out all the places I wanted to see, and there were a couple of professors I didn't manage to connect with. And although I greatly enjoyed being able to go to late-night events without having to worry about the kids, there were also a bunch of events that they would have enjoyed, and it would have been fun to introduce them to my friends and see them play with my friends' kids. So, assuming that I go back again five years from now for the 20th, I'll definitely take the kids along, and we'll come earlier and stay later.
