Tailgating, or You Can't Go Home Again

Thomas Wolfe famously wrote, "You can't go home again." Surely, we've all heard it, but I never feel it more than when I return to my alma mater! In six short years, almost the entire campus has been rebuilt, the entire layout changed and it's hard to believe I ever went there. But on Saturday, I thought it would be fun to go to the Homecoming tailgate, a tradition that didn't exist until only a couple years ago.

We came prepped with burgers, hot dogs, buffalo chicken dip, ranch dip, fruit and oreo brownies...

And beer....lots of it.

Needless to say, we needed the drinks just to be able to endure spending so much time in close proximity to crazy college kids. Obviously I was in college once...but I was never as actively disrespectful or obnoxious as these kids, who were tossing glass bottles everywhere. I learned an important lesson Saturday: I am SO glad to no longer be 19 years old. Also, I can't hang out with 19-year-olds without feeling like a substitute teacher.

One sweet thing is the golf cart Homecoming parade...it's strangely perfect for our school.

Ashleigh and I were still stunned by how much has changed, like the entire layout of campus...

but it's funny to see some things never change.

We finally made our escape from the rioting masses of late adolescents to go to the game, and when we returned...

Fairy Godmothers had magically cleaned most of the mess up!

Lessons learned: when tailgating, try to make sure you don't end up between kids jumping up and down in pick-up trucks, and also, college is always about the people, and never about the physical campus.