Hallowed Halls

It's a strange sensation, both familiar and foreign at the same time. I'm talking about walking onto my college campus (University of Oklahoma). This past weekend, we traveled to Oklahoma to celebrate Elise's brother's birthday (Nick) and go to an OU football game. Her family has 6 tickets among them, so each year, we pick 2-3 games to attend. This Saturday, OU played Oregon.

Back to the subject of the post... have you ever had that feeling? The feeling that you are somewhere that is extremely familiar - filled with memories, both vague and specific? That's part of what I experience each time that I step onto the campus. The sights, smells and sounds are ripe with memory. I thoroughly enjoyed my college experience and I love going back to campus each fall. (I don't really have the same opinion about high school - don't really have any desire to go back there.)

However, things change. I've changed - I've grown older and hopefully wiser. I now have children, a "career", a community of friends around me (more rich than any friendships I had in college). OU's campus has changed as well. In the past 4-5 years, they have undergone a massive fundraising campaign and building campaign. The esteemed former U.S. Senator, David Boren became president of the University sometime in the mid-90's and has engineered amazing growth at OU. The enrollment has shot up from 22,000 to 30,000. New buildings abound (new journalism building, new business building, stadium renovation and enlargement, new art building, new natural history museum, and even new music buildings). Since 1995, the construction projects on campus total a whopping $727 Million dollars!

When we were in college, we were involved at the Wesley Foundation (a weird name that sounds like a fundraising organization, but is in fact the Methodist College Ministry on campus). On Saturday we parked there and tailgated nearby (Elise's mom is a tailgating fiend - big tent, grill, chairs, etc.). It was a little weird to be in this building where I spent so many hours of my college career, but feel like a visitor. No one there (besides for the director) knows me. That's fine - it's their time now, not mine.

You know how it is, you expect things to be just like you remembered them. Of course, I wouldn't want to go back in time. I love my wife, my kids, my church, my friends. I'm actually excited about the change at OU - it indicates that good things are happening. It is still a little odd to be in a place that is so familiar and so foreign at the same time.

Or as Kip says, "your mom goes to college."