365 Days of Happy: Days 122, 123, and 124

Reunion Weekend Recap

The weekend we've been waiting for since college graduation was finally here: our five year reunion!  My alma mater is a small liberal arts school and I'm pretty sure it could give Disney World a run for its money when it comes to being the happiest place on earth.

Festivities began Thursday night when I picked Katelin up at the airport.  She flew out from California so we could spend the seven hours it takes to drive from North Carolina to Ohio catching up.  Her flight was late, but that didn't stop us from staying up until 2am talking.  The alarm clock went off three hours later and we got ready to hit the road, running on coffee and pure adrenaline.

Crossing the bridge into Ohio!

A lovely sign greeting us upon our arrival

We kicked off Friday evening with an event called the Parade of Classes.  While this was our five year college reunion, this was also the weekend where older alums celebrated their own reunions, including those who graduated 50 years ago.  Alums lined the brick walkway, acknowledging and greeting the older classes as we all gathered for the opening convocation.  Such a cute tradition.

Have you ever played the card game Kings?  It was a weekend staple during our college years and we were amazed to discover that it's now available as an app.  So awesome.

The eight great, aka seven of the best friends a girl could ask for.  We were last together in August for Katelin's wedding, so it was high time for a reunion.  These ladies are so fabulous.

And it was also lovely seeing those I haven't seen since graduation - everybody looked happy and great and I would say post-college life is treating the class of 2006 well.

On Saturday night, an epic game of flip cup evolved when our class's co-chair (the cute redhead on the far right in the picture above this one) took charge.  A 60 person, multi-class marathon game ensued, at one point featuring the class of 2006 v. 1986, aka us v. us in 20 years.

Education aside, four years of fun and adventure while in college followed by post-college events like these make every dollar of tuition worth it.  I don't ever doubt that, but you may need to remind me of it when I'm complaining about student loans.

We were so sad to leave and I'm already looking forward to our ten year reunion, but I also had a mini high school reunion to look forward to before returning to North Carolina.

In downtown Columbus I met up with two fabulous ladies who I haven't seen in three years (I was hoping my math was wrong, because wow, way too long).  Katelin met up with her cousin and the five of us grabbed lunch, chatted, and feasted on some ridiculously delicious ice cream before hitting the road.

The drive home was relatively uneventful - some seriously awesome sing alongs, car dancing, and recapping the weekend - until we came to a standstill in southern West Virginia.

We were parked on the interstate for a while due to an accident about a half mile ahead.  When we got moving, we saw the aftermath of a rollover accident that we later learned was fatal.  It was so sad to see and, even more, a reminder to be extra careful on the road and to not take any days for granted - the awesome, eventful ones and the casual, uneventful ones alike.

I am a lucky girl.

(PS - I am lazy with my camera, so aside from the last two, none of these pics are mine.  They were taken by friends and the official reunion photographer.)