College

College is on my mind these days.  It's simply that time of year (beloved May) when the stores are stocked with grad-related merchandise and all publications are filled with advice and snarky comments for the wide-eyed twenty-somethings who are staggering into the work force. 

Or, you know, grad school.  I'm just sayin. 

We liberal arts majors gotta do what we gotta do.  I read an article published in Boston College's online student journal this week that lamented (tongue in cheek) how unprepared liberal arts majors are for today's workforce.  At least, it said, they read some good books.  Amen to that! This world needs thinkers, people, and we liberal arts peeps do what we can!

And of course I'm watching my bro get closer and closer to the finish line, with his internship right around the corner, and his final classes prepped for next year.  The days are long but the years are short.  Before you know it, you're in your mid-thirties, absent-mindedly sipping coffee in the car while you inch forward at a glacial pace in traffic...oh wait!  I digress.

I went digging around in the basement tonight and found this picture.  It was taken during the first couple of weeks that we were dating.  Little did we know.  First of all, we totally look like youth pastors.  Secondly, this needs to be placed in some kind of historical archive; it is literal proof that we are getting old.  The evidence?  Um, a telephone in the background with a cord.  Not to mention the various computer wires and a monitor the size of our microwave.  And notice my window sill -  a coke bottle?  Dork!

There's so much to be said about college, but I'll concentrate for a moment on my journey with G that started way back then.  In our senior year, we had the bright idea to buy hamsters and then take turns hiding them in our dorm rooms.  Their names were Trooper (mine) and Samson (G's) - it helped that we both had private rooms.  We bought them after visiting the Tulsa Zoo.  Hmmmm, the beginning of an animal theme for us?

Also, there was the reading.  Always the reading.  Always the talking about our books and managing to fit them in between classes, activities, jobs, friends, and making out hanging out.

And, of course, there was the hiking.  This was our very first camping trip together.  Little did we know it would turn out to be a pre-cursor to Hawaii, Yellowstone, Grand Teton...and a world of other places.

P.S.  I used to look at old pictures of myself and think, "I was so thin back then..."  Now I look at them and think, "Ack!  I was so young!"  Uggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh.