Nostalgia

"Even if we are occupied with important things and even if we attain honor or fall into misfortune, still let us remember how good it once was here, when we were all together, united by a good and a kind feeling which made us perhaps better than we are.
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Brothers Karamazov

This has to be one of the most beautiful pictures I've ever seen.

What do you say about a place that changed your life? What do you say about the people you met there who will forever be in your heart? What do you say about memories that are so vivid it feels like you never left?

Many people have a wonderful college experience. They learn and grow and change. They make friends and meet spouses. They get training for a future career. But this place is so much more than that. This place is special. You will often hear alumni say this. They will say it is a place of community. And if you are outside of the family you will think "yeah, right. It can't be that much different than my college experience." I can't say for sure because I don't know your experience. But I do know that I have never met anyone else from any other university that talks about their alma mater with such reverance, love and that misty look in their eyes.

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Okay, I've been sitting here for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to summarize my feelings about this place. But I can't do it. There aren't any right words. Instead I'm just going to give you a brain-dump of the things I remember most.

* meeting Katie at Freshman O
* seeing David bring his comforter to class because he didn't want it to get stolen from the laundry room
* introducing Katie & Joe one night when we had planned to hit a few parties and find SYR dates. Instead, Katie found her future husband.
* watching Kim fall down the steps of the CCMB
* studying until the wee hours of the morning in an empty classroom in Hayes-Healy with Bradshaw, Jen & Matt.
* studying in the old LaFortune outside the tiny convenience store.
* early morning breakfasts in the cafeteria with Katie and Todd
* studying in the rooms on the 2nd floor of the 'brare and taking a break at 11:55 to head over for quarter dogs
* watching in amazement as the boys managed to make a full meal out of a quarter dog
* wandering back from Senior Bar with Eric constantly talking about my hat (I miss you, dear hat and wish woe to the person who stole you)
* arriving alone at Senior Bar knowing there would be a plethora of friendly faces
* playing shuffle board
* dorm food sales
* forming the math club and seeing our MuAlphaTheta shirts on everyone on campus
* taking the shuttle over to St Mary's for an 8am communications class
* taking the city bus to the mall
* when the freshman dropped the case of (glass bottles) beer getting out of the green van
* driving through the night to go to the Kentucky Derby on a whim
* JPW
* the barbeque with Bradshaw, Erica, Katie, Joe and our families graduation weekend
* St Ed's Sunday night mass
* Witnessing a Holy Cross ordination - an amazingly powerful experience
* NDE
* My small group with people I never thought I would know or like who became some of my most trusted confidants
* late nights at the grotto
* Thanksgivings with the Bradshaws
* dinner parties in the dorm kitchens with Joe, Erica, Colleen, Tony & Lauren
* Joe McG having his dorm room completely stocked with Crate & Barrel dishes
* the 1st annual wine party
* Justin Brumbaugh's memorial mass
* Kim's phone calls every other day confirming lunch
* slicing open my hand on a can of lemonade and splattering blood so badly it looked like a murder occurred
* Rob helping me decorate for Christmas
* sitting in the window watching beach volleyball
* dorm parties
* SYRs
* formals
* the guys barbequeing on the quad on Lenten Fridays in protest of the cafeteria's meatless policy
* cafeteria nicknames
* the BFR
* Fall Break in New York
* Appalachia with the kids from Creighton
* letters from Clint
* Glee Club Hayride in Michigan........Michigan
* ice skating class
* physics lab with Patty
* Saturday night dinners with Katie after women's choir mass
* Football Saturday candlelight buffets
* Football Saturdays (can you believe there are so many memories that came to mind before football!)
* Sundays made for laundry & studying
* physics tests in that stupid fieldhouse
* walking to NDFCU
* Parking the green van in D2milliion
* Lauren & Janet driving all night to pick me up at O'Hare so I wouldn't be stranded (now that is real friendship)
* St Patrick's Day
* Tutoring at the FLRC
* Job interviews in the library basement
* how crowded the bookstore would get
* standing in line to return books at the end of the year
* trying really hard to remember how to get back to our dorm after a party on the other side of campus freshman year
* viewbook-blue spring skies
* movies in the engineering building
* freshman welcome mass
* senior farewell mass
* senior week

So you see, there's no way to summarize. There is no way to take all of these memories and boil them down into a few words of meaning. These memories shape me. These are memories I hope never to lose. Or if I do, I hope those who shared them with me will remind me. If I had to summarize, I don't think I could do it any better than Mr Dostoyevsky did.