A visit to Hiram

With Alumni Weekend cancelled for the second year in a row, we've been missing our Hiram tiem.  We decided to hold a little "mini-reunion" on Saturday.  We gathered a few local alums who had free time that night, and we all convened on the BC lawn to pretend we were in college again.  Because Hiram is a magical place, and quite possibly a time machine, it pretty much felt like we were.

What a joyful feeling to park on 700 and see our friends meeting up out in front of our old dorm.  Twenty years erased, just like that.

The other joy of the trip?  Watching our kids settle in to campus like they've been in college for years.  Here's Lillian, finding her natural habitat on the stoop. 

Jack, ready for lawn games (and sitting around on his phone a lot too, so he really is ready..)

Meanwhile the grown ups settled in to the lawn like it was our job.  Let the day drinking and snacking and conversation commence!

That moment when we finished the partial bottle of Fireball... and Majeed nonchalantly pulls a brand new out of his cooler bag. 

Before long the girls were ready to take off and wander campus on their own. Watching them walk away, the distance from now til 18 seemed pretty infintessimal.

Then, off for a group wander around campus.  We tried to explain to the kids that this is really what we did with our leisure time here,  sitting and talking and drinking, and walking and talking.  And somehow it was thrilling and perfect.  I am so grateful that we had our college experience before the age of smart phones, so we could be fully engaged the whole time...

Here are the girls posing for their album cover in front of the old Art building.     I am so glad this sculpture is still here.  The site of many memories for our group...

One of the highlights of our walk was this table of free stuff in front of a local house.  We had wayyyy too much fun looking through this junk.

Playing ball in the street.  Because its Hiram and you can.

We always like to do something brand new at Alumni weekend.  In recent years that has been sneaking out onto the roof tops in various buildings.  With campus locked down for the summer, we took to the woods.  There was this great house behind the Pendleton House garden, with this grand archway.  We went to investigate, then found some hiking trails heading off into the woods, and wound our way around and back to Bonney Castle.  All that walking for 4 years in this tiny town and I never kneow those trails existed. 

Had to visit the Class of "97 bench to admire its silvery grey hue.

And there is  a new fountain at the library!  We did not go in for a wade this time, saving that for a trip when Jen and Sullivan are here too.

It was a lovely 4 hours in our happy place.  So much is different on campus and yet the essence of it is the same, and WE are the same when we are there, sinking back into who we used to be, back before real life got in the way.

It worked its magic on my girl, too.  Here she is flopped in the grass next to the van as we packed to leave, saying "I don't WANT to go!"

Me either, kiddo.  

See you soon, Hiram.