One weird sensation that I had tonight walking back from the bookstore was the anticipation of running into someone I know on campus. I think this is an artifact from my late-undergrad experience at Purdue. By the end of my 5th year there I frequently saw people I knew: someone from back home; someone from the dorms when I was a freshman; someone from an ME class (found myself acting like I didn't know them); someone from the different circles of friends I had developed; someone named Jill. :)
I guess I not only got used to seeing these people, I looked forward to it. It broke up the monotony and was an opportunity to make future plans for something or another. Now -- being on a new campus where the number of people I currently know is limited to a dozen or less -- it leaves me left searching for a familiar face and finding none.
On a brighter note, it is great to back in this atmosphere. The action of so many young (and young-minded) people is contagious. From where I sit writing this (outside of the Art and Journalism Building on the patio) there are easily a hundred people walking back and forth from every direction. There's some alternative rock blaring through the weatherproof speakers off to my left and here I sit, basking in the evening sun getting ready (obviously) for a presentation I have to give in 30 minutes. Perhaps relative anonymity isn't bad after all.
There's a lot about college I don't remember (...), but I KNOW I never saw Kevin on campus - at least not for class!
I am so proud of you, Kev, for returning to school and working your way towards a masters degree. As you while away the hours in your pleasant college atmosphere (as if), I hope you spend a LITTLE bit of time thinking about the goings on at home...two two-year-olds and three ten-month-olds. Ahhh...as the song goes, "these are days...to remember."