If the AARP offer I received in the mail (and wrote about in my last column) didn’t make me feel old enough, then going back to my alma mater would serve as the definitive proof.
Two weeks ago, I made the trip down to Illinois State in Bloomington-Normal with my friend Andy Steckling (whose name you may recognize from several Sun Day bylines). We were in town to see a colleague and our former general manager get inducted during a Hall of Fame dinner held for our college newspaper, the Vidette.
It was my first time back since graduation. It hadn’t been that long – I graduated in December, 2011 – but upon our arrival I questioned whether we had taken I-55 there or some time-warp superhighway.
Most of the campus was familiar,but sights like the behemoth new football stadium and rows of new student apartments still gleaming and yet to be soiled by semesters of bacchanalian excess, made me feel disoriented in my old home.
By the same token, old standbys were now gone. My favorite movie shop (also discussed in a previous column) was closed, and the dorms Andy and I both lived in had been decommissioned – our earliest college memories trapped behind the locked doors of those quiet, empty buildings.
Suddenly, Andy and I were the old men on campus, walking around saying things like “I remember when this was a smoothie place!” and “Remember this secret bathroom – I wonder if it’s still here….”
I was feeling like a stranger in a strange land. I’m 23, and just two years older than most of the seniors at ISU, and yet I felt at least a decade removed. Thankfully, I soon learned Andy and I weren’t the only old timers who took the time-warp highway to Bloomington-Normal that day.
We met up with fellow editors and staff later that day, and I was glad to have more fellow geezers around to discuss the kids these days.
“Did you see what the girls are wearing today? I’d never go out dressed like that!” one news editor quipped.
“And the music at the pub! How can any of them hear each other talk?” Another photo editor remarked.
Despite our grumbling, we still stuck with our plans to go out that night and attempt to relive our college days. I was both excited and nervous about this. Suddenly, things that never worried me at 20 started to creep into my mind: Andy and I had a long car ride that morning and were tired after walking all over campus that day, I had eaten a big meal packed with carbs, we needed to be up to check out of the hotel by 11 – was this such a good idea?
Still, I gave it the old college try and was glad I did. We all went out and had a great time. We still felt old, but as the drinks flowed, so did the memories, and we stayed out just as long as the whippersnappers – even getting calzones at an unspeakable morning hour.
I went to bed happy knowing that you can really go “back home.” Sure, the buildings may have changed and I was two years older, sleeping in a hotel room and not some dingy apartment but this was my home and always would be be.
That feeling lasted until probably 9 a.m. I woke up sore, sleep deprived, and in a hotel miles from campus. We met up with friends who stayed in the same hotel for breakfast and again tried recreating another college moment – the Sunday morning breakfast – much to the chagrin of other guests.
My takeaway from that weekend was that I’ll never recapture my college days. While certain quantities of Bud Light and early morning calzones can bring them back in bits and pieces, those days are ultimately behind me.
As we drove back home up I-55 I began to feel my age again and realized that it wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
