college, reunions, and fun!

Brandon and I started dating in high school, two grades apart (scandal!), and then when I graduated, I headed east to Susquehanna University.  Brandon graduated two years later and headed southwest to Washington&Jefferson college.

Long distance for six years was hard, but we contribute our time apart and growing into our own selves as a big part of what makes our relationship so strong today.  What I love about our separate college experiences is that we each were able to make our 'own' friends.  As high school sweethearts from a small town, his friends and my friends were all the same people, due to geographic limitations.
But college gave us the opportunity to make our 'own' friends- granted everyone we made friends with heard of the other within only a few minutes, but technically they were friends with only one of us.

And now?  Well, now they're all both of our friends.  We feel doubly blessed to have such a wide group of friends to lean on and celebrate with; all the w&j friends call us 'Brandon and Tab' while all the Susquehanna friends call us 'Tab and Brandon.'

We've been lucky to get a chance to spend time with both sides this fall.  Early in September, we got the chance to get together with the W&J friends and all their kids!  We spent the afternoon at Siri & Dobber's house hanging out and laughing at all the kids running and toddling about.  We got to wish Jamie and Potter best wishes as they await their first baby later this fall, and Baby BFFs Violet and Claire closed out the playday with an outdoor baby pool bath (cutest!!)

Later in the month, we were headed east to celebrate my ten year college graduation.  pause for effect here, friends.  TEN YEARS out of college.  It does not feel possible that's it's been ten years.  time, man.

We made plans to spend the night at Brandon's cousins house which the kids were over.the.moon about since they'd get to sleep over and play with their cousins Reid, Audra, and Rowen.  After a long drive in which the two big kids stayed awake giggling and teasing each other for 2 hours and 45 minutes of the 3 hour drive (!) we arrived well past their bedtime.  Despite going to be late, all six kids were up before 7am running, playing, and having quote 'the best day ever.'

The kids played all morning, buzzing around the house and then we all headed out to Reid's flag football game to cheer him on.  Afterward, we spent the afternoon at the Masonic Village Autumn Days riding in a hay wagon, playing games, and balloon sword fighting each other.  It was full day of fun already before we even loaded up at naptime to drive an hour to Susquehanna for the homecoming/reunion festivities.

I hadn't been back to campus in, well not quite ten years, but probably like eight.  It was so weirdly familiar riding through the campus and walking around.  The kids weren't at all impressed as I tried to explain to them that I lived here in college ("You're just my mom, MOM!" said Gemma as she is incapable of imagining me as anything but the person I am right now).  We got to catch the tail end of the volleyball tournament (go SU!) and I was so happy to chat with the coaches and our loyal fans that still attend most of the games.

We met up with lots of friends from the class of 2005, including Heather from Life Unexpected to which this is my public pleading for you to start blogging again (!!)  We took a long stroll around campus as I pointed out the buildings that I spent most of my time, or the places that something funny had happened.  I snapped goofy grinning selfies in front of my freshman dorm and sent them off to my two best friends whom I met there.  Such a wave of past memories, it reminded me of how grateful I am to have spent my four years of college at SU; getting the education I got, the friends I met, the experience.  gosh, I'm a sucker for all of it.