Hello, friends!  I am simultaneously happy and sad today – happy because I had such a wonderful weekend, and sad because it’s over.  This past weekend was my fifteenth (gasp!) college reunion, so Steve and the kids and I drove up to Ithaca, New York for four days of memories, seeing old friends, eating at our favorite spots and brainwashing the kids into wanting to go to Cornell just like Mommy and Daddy.  We rolled into town on Thursday afternoon and had a jam-packed agenda of fun for the next few days – including three hikes, three visits to the Cornell Dairy (all the ice cream!), wandering around campus, visiting my old sorority, and attending receptions and talks for my major and two Class of 2003 dinners – every moment was a joy, and I just wish that we were still there!  Lots more photos and stories coming later this week, that’s a promise.  The only thing that was a bit of a bummer about the weekend was that I had a hard time disconnecting from work, especially on Thursday and Friday.  I had a few work fires to put out, and even between emergencies, I just felt tied to my email all weekend, which is a lame way of spending an event that I look forward to for five years (at least – I actually missed my tenth, so I’ve been anticipating this reunion since 2008).  But I can’t complain, because I was in a beautiful place that I love so much, sharing it with my family – what’s not to love about that?

Reading.  Rather a slow reading week, because I spent most of last week preparing to be out of town, juggling a personal project that I am working hard on, and then actually heading up to Ithaca for reunion.  But I’m about two-thirds of the way through Scenes of Clerical Life and still really enjoying it, and at the same time, re-reading The Turner House for my book club (which meets on Wednesday night, so I’ve got to get cracking – I’m only about 20% through the book as of right now).  I’ve got a few more library books out, so they’ll probably be next on deck.

Watching.  Lots of watching, and all great!  I watched my kids experience lots of first at Cornell – first sight of the clock tower, first bite of Cornell Dairy ice cream, first visit to the Alpha Phi house, first time running around on the Arts Quad, first Collegetown Bagels run… And I watched the Big Red Marching Band serenade our class on our final dinner by the lake (although their choice of spirit song was maybe a bit misplaced for the fifteenth reunion – there were a lot of kids in our tent, and a lot of parents singing “We’re gonna beat the… hockey… outta you!  Fork ’em up, fork ’em up, go CU!”)

Listening.  Other than the aforementioned Big Red Marching Band serenade, my biggest listening day last week was Wednesday, when I drove to Richmond and back to NoVA in the same day for my Virginia Bar swearing-in: yay!  With more than four hours alone in the car, I made good progress on podcasts – mostly Those Park Guys Podcast.  I’d been saving up episodes, so I enjoyed several hours with Jack and Colton on my drive.

Blogging.  Hikes 11-20 coming to you on Wednesday, and then a travel recap on Friday – stay tuned!

Laughing.  During the “State of the ILR School” talk by the dean of my undergrad college, the dean mentioned that a group of about 24 students took over his office with a list of demands.  While I love that the students in my major still feel so passionately about their activism, we did get a good laugh afterwards – Steve mentioned that he had never heard of students taking over their dean’s office, and I told him that it was a quintessentially ILR thing to do and almost a rite of passage for my major.  Go Big Red!

Loving.  So much this week!  I loved visiting all of my old favorite Cornell spots and seeing so many beloved faces this week.  (In a class of 3,000, I knew a disproportionately high number of reunion attendees – my major, which was very small, and my sorority turned out in high numbers.)  Loved wandering around my sorority house, checking out the old pictures from my time there and giving the password to enter the secret sisters-only room.  Loved Collegetown Bagels every morning and Cornell Dairy Bar every afternoon, and yummy tacos and barbeque with my classmates in the evenings.  Loved hearing about the direction my major program is taking over the next few years at the “State of the ILR School.”  Loved watching my kids run around on the grass outside the ILR School while Steve and I chatted with a dear friend from our college days.  Loved watching the sun set over Beebe Lake as we took our class picture and gave goodbye hugs that will have to last five years for many of us.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?