There and Back Again...

No, we didn't go dragon slaying or on any big adventure like that, but we did make our way to Grove City College (mine and Matt's alma mater) for the first time in probably five years. We made the trip to Clearfield on Friday - it always seems to take forever because we usually take a long break for lunch (never intended to be long, but ends up like that - even at McDonalds or Wendy's). We left early the next morning for GCC, leaving the kids behind with my mom and dad because it was supposed to be cold and we figured they would have more fun staying back. Oh, but we almost didn't go at all. Friday night my mom went to the emergency room with some severe back/side pain that she described as "worse than labor". She went through three completely natural births, two of those being breech, and still claims that labor wasn't that bad. So her pain threshhold is highly respected amongst our family and we didn't doubt that something must be wrong. When she went to the hospital (because it was Friday night and her doctor wasn't around) we weren't sure if she would have to stay or not. If she did, we wouldn't subject my dad to the pure joy of watching both Ella and Catherine alone. We were debating taking one of the kids and leaving the other behind so that Matt and I could still play in our lacrosse and soccer alumni games. Basically we ended by being up very late that night waiting to hear what was going on with my mom before we decided. It ended up that she had a very severe UTI and was able to come with some medicine.

So thankfully she was fine and we were able to go with no problem. It was weird to be one of the oldest people playing in the alumni soccer game because I don't feel old at all. I just felt like the girls on the team just look young. Did I look that young in college? Probably. We hadn't been back to GCC since they have built a new student union center, new classrooms and apartments. In some ways it felt so normal to be there but when we visited the newer areas it felt like a totally different campus - no memories of these places, not what I picture when I remember college. It was neat and the new buildings are beautiful and really add to the campus. I can't go back and show my kids where Matt and I would talk between classes before we started dating. I can't go back and sit in the booth at the Gee and remember all the ice cream I used to eat for under a buck. So even though the changes are an improvement I felt a little sad.