Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Coffee Chat - College memories

Hi there!  Please grab your favorite beverage and sit down with me, it's time for our weekly coffee chat!

I cheated on my beloved Caribou today and grabbed a vanilla iced nirvana from Dunn Bros - I have to say, if I can't have Caribou, I will pick Dunn Bros any time.  The vanilla iced nirvana is sinfully good (cold pressed coffee with vanilla).  It was dangerous having Dunn Bros be so close to my clinic last summer when I was pregnant, I pretty much stopped in there after every appointment!  But enough about that.  How are you today?

I'm good, I had a great time at my ten year college reunion this last weekend.  I still can't believe it's been ten years.  I tell you though, stepping into the quad in the middle of my campus totally took me back - it was like returning home.  Things have changed, but many things are still the same and it was just so good to be there.

I met up with three of my close friends.  We were in the sorority together.  What are you looking at me like that for?  Yes I was in a sorority.  I know I don't strike you as the type, I'm not a party girl - but we weren't a party sorority.  It was a social/service sorority.  We did a lot of community service projects and a lot of sisterhood building events.  It wasn't all about partying and drinking and frat boys.  Besides, I was with Nate then and I didn't need the parties or the boys.  The service and sisterhood aspect was much more important to me!  Anyway, I love these girls and I love that we have stayed connected over the years even though two of them no longer live in town.


There were many events going on for the reunion on Saturday.  We went to a session on "Why We Eat" that was simply fascinating.  If that professor had been there when I was a student I would have changed my major to food and nutrition sciences just so I could take his classes!  He was a great speaker!  And ironically, right after that session, we had the President's Lunch.  It was a fancy three course meal complete with tea, coffee and wine.  While we ate, the President filled us in on the state of our college.  I have always adored her - she's a nun, but she has to be one of the most liberal, progressive nuns I have ever met.  It was fun to hear her talk about the place I love so much.  And then in the afternoon, my class put on a "Becoming a Beerista" event - learning how to pair beer with cheese.  It just only made sense that my class would be the ones to put on that event, let me tell you!  And there was a lot of beer consumed by yours truly because everyone kept giving me the ones they didn't like since they knew I liked beer!


We closed out the day with mass and it ended up kind of long because the classes celebrating 25 and 50 years were getting a special pin.  It was during that ceremony that my mind began to wander a bit and started playing games with me.  You know how those mind games can be - they are really no good.  But I was thinking about how about three years ago, I had an opportunity to take a job at my college.  It's actually always been a dream/goal/wish of mine to return to this place I love so much in a professional matter.  An opportunity presented itself and I decided to persue it.  At the time however, I couldn't see the bigger picture.  See, it would have been a pay cut and it would have also been a cut in hours for part of the year.  I wouldn't have worked during the month of January when the students are off for January Term.  I also would have worked part time to minimal time in the summer.  At that time I was like "there is no way I can make that work, I have to work full time!"  But now I'm like....what if I had gone for it?  I'd be in the perfect setting for more time with Oliver....sigh.  If I'd only known then what I know now.  At that time I could have supplemented my income with a part time job or something on the off times.  Obviously we can't see into the future, but I just can't help but feel a little sad that I didn't think more hard about that at the time.  So that was a bit of a downer note to end my reunion on unfortunately.  But the entire time I spent there was a ton of fun and it was so nice catching up with my friends!

So that's what's new with me, what's new with you?  Feel free to link up below if you'd like to share your own coffee chat post on your blog - I'll leave the link open through Friday!
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9 comments :

  1. Sounds like you had a great time at your reunion.

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  2. That sounds like fun - college here in Canada is more for trades or university transfers. I went to university and there were no sororities, nothing. I felt very alone on the big campus. Needless to say, no reunions! Re: the missed opportunity - don't stress it. Deep breath: no regrets. There is always the future!

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  3. That sounds like a really great weekend. A fun mix of nostalgia and catching up!

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  4. Sounds like you had a fun time at your reunion!

    I can relate with making a decision that I thought was for the best, but looking back on it, I wish I had decided differently. But you can't live life with regrets!

    -Sharon
    The Tiny Heart

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  5. Oh the difficulty of decisions!!! Education work is good in that respect.
    So glad you had a lively time. Could you please explain to ne what a sorority and frat are? I've never understood!! X

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  6. AW! I love the idea of a college reunion! How awesome. I do that too, the "what ifs", and honestly, they cannot be helped. They will always creep up on you. You never know, what if you did take that job, but other things might have been different.

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  7. Sounds like you had a really fun meet up Beth:)
    ~Anne

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  8. That sounds like a fun reunion--especially the beerista class!! I was in a sorority in college too (although there was a little partying mixed in with all the sisterhood stuff...not too much though). You never know, maybe you'll get another opportunity to work at that school again, or maybe an even better one will come along!

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