Milestones and memories

Have you ever tried to revisit a time or place that is a beloved part of your past, only to have the whole experience be a letdown? Well, my trip back to Penn State for my graduation (my first time there in about 10 years) was everything that I thought it would be and more.

We flew from San Francisco to Philadelphia on Thursday, August 11th and spent the evening catching up with Steve's parents, whom we hadn't seen since a holiday visit a couple of years ago. Both of them, but especially my father-in-law, have been among my most ardent cheerleaders in my belated return to school. So after breakfast Friday the four of us hit the Pennsylvania Turnpike westward, turned onto Route 322 (taking in some of the most stunning lush, green farmland I've ever seen) and headed right into the heart of Happy Valley. Our first stop was the Penn State Bookstore where I picked up my cap and gown and stocked up on some PSU gear. Credit card damage was limited to a zip-up hoodie, t-shirt, ballcap, license plate frame and fridge magnet -- I could've done much worse! Then it was off to the Berkey Creamery, which didn't exist when I went to Penn State the first time around (it was in a much smaller building elsewhere on campus)... but the ice cream hasn't changed a bit! (Bear in mind that when Ben & Jerry wanted to learn how to make ice cream, they took a course at Penn State. I kid you not.) I had no choice but to indulge in a huge cone of Peachy Paterno, one of the Creamery's best-sellers. You have *never* had peach ice cream like this -- so decadently creamy with gigantic frozen peach slices throughout, like it was studded with little peach popsicles! My memories sure didn't let me down on that score.

Not long after that I had a waaay overdue reunion with my sister Jean, who drove up from the Baltimore area. Hard to believe that six years had passed since we'd last seen each other! But the coolest thing was when the five of us went to dinner at a nearby pub where she and I proceeded to crack each other up with our mutual stupid sense of humor, like it had only been six hours since we had last hung out together.

Then came the big event -- Saturday morning's commencement ceremony at Bryce Jordan Center (the arena is also new since my last trip to campus). There were about 400 of us on hand out of a class of 1200 to receive our degrees. As we awaited the start of the ceremony Steve's brother Gary and his wife Cindy, who had driven in that morning from near Allentown, joined the crew. Now as someone who has a habit of crying at Hallmark commercials, I thought for sure I would dissolve into a puddle of tears at some point in the ceremony, but I toughed it out -- that is until one of the speakers on stage asked the family and friends of the graduates to stand up and be acknowledged for their crucial roles in our road to graduation. I looked up at my gathered family and I was toast... I lost it. (Funny thing about that gown I had on -- no pocket for tissues.) Luckily I managed to spare enough of my makeup to not look too scary for the post-ceremony photo ops.

We had some time to kill before we headed to the American Ale House, where we had reservations for our celebratory lunch, so we were just standing around talking when I was approached by a reporter from the Centre Daily Times, State College's local newspaper, and asked if I would mind discussing my experience as a new graduate. Although as a member of the media I've been featured in the paper quite often over the years, it was still kind of cool for the family (especially thrilling for my mother-in-law). Somewhere between the reporter's notepad and the publication of the story the final "A" was dropped from my last name, but that's the story of my married life!

Watch this space for "Milestones and memories, part 2". This post is getting ridiculously long and it's almost dinnertime. Yep, I got priorities, baby! :-)