I’ve mentioned before my ‘teeny tiny’ (to quote little G) college in Virginia. I was one of 900 undergrads (all women) and it was one of the more formative experiences I’ve had in my life. This is where I learned the value of female friendships.
I met some of my favorite people in the world while at Hollins. The only issue is that I never quite mastered the art of keeping in touch. I rely heavily on others to shoulder the burden, sadly.
One thing I do, as a rule, is make every attempt possible to attend each and every Reunion. I’ve come close. 2015 marked our 15 year reunion, and I was there, with our 7 month old nuggets in tow. So why would I be making plans to attend reunion in 2017? Founded in 1842, Hollins was celebrating their 175th birthday, and I was not going to miss it.
Everyone was invited for the reunion festivities, as usual. This year, there were about twice as many attendees, including around 10 from my graduating year, which is quite the turnout for a non-reunion year!
Hollins is about a 5 hour drive from Oma & Opa’s house, but considering that’s less than half the drive from home, I was game with TT Dad’s plan. It also meant I wanted to be there longer than the typical Friday-Sunday. I tentatively planned a Wednesday or Thursday arrival, and a Sunday or Monday departure. When push came to shove, it worked out to a Thursday-Sunday trip. I left after breakfast on Thursday, although I hadn’t made any plans until Friday.
The rest of this post will actually be non-twin related… I’m still trying to convince TT Dad to add a post about his weekend without TTMom!
I took my time on the way there, with multiple stops to stretch my legs, or grab a snack. It isn’t often I can run in and out of a store so quickly, so I took advantage of the solo time.
Check in wasn’t until 3pm, but I arrived closer to 1pm, leaving me plenty of time to reminisce with a drive through campus to pick up my registration packet, and then a walk around the mall. After all of that it was finally time to check in, so I headed to the hotel and settled into my room.
My next stop was to pick up water and snacks for the room, since I was planning on spending some serious alone time on this trip.
I enjoyed a nice dinner alone at a restaurant, people watching, and soaking up the silence.
That was just about as much alone time as I could handle for the day, so I headed over to one of my most favorite friend’s house (my very first roommate in college) and knocked on her door. I know that’s a major no-no in the real world, but I wasn’t worried… We’re more like sisters than friends, after all these years!
She was out to pick up dinner, so I stuck around to surprise her. I kidnapped her after they all ate dinner, and we drove around town, hitting a few spots I was saving for our little roomie reunion, including the Star.
Mostly we chatted and laughed and laughed and chatted. Plans were made for Friday- she was working a half day, so we’d spend the afternoon together trying to stay out of trouble.
It amazes me to no end that after all these years (I won’t make it easy, you can do the math if you’d like to know just how many years 😉 ) we can still pick up right where we left off, as if we’d never been separated.
I slept in (!!!) and then went off to find somewhere to get a pedicure, before meeting K at my hotel. As to be expected, we headed back to campus to walk down memory lane, together.
K picked up her registration packet, and we made our way to visit our third musketeer (our RA from freshman year, KRA, who was also my roomie from Sophomore and Junior years.) KRA was working, but she was able to sneak away for a quick hug.
K and I ran off to run some errands before ending up back at the hotel , where KRA would be meeting us when she was done with work.
The three of us had a wonderful evening together, just like old times. We ordered pizza, and pretended we were back in college together.
There’s something so special about friendships that carry you from adolescence into adulthood. They know everything- and love me anyway.
I spent Saturday doing reunion things- from the parade, to a farewell chat with the president who was retiring over the summer. After lunch, it was back to the hotel to get ready for the evening’s events. Our class filled an entire table for dinner, out on front quad. We had certainly made a name for ourselves over the years, so we felt as if we had the attention of all the student volunteers- as if they’d been warned about us! We were on our best behavior, ish. 
It was really nice to enjoy a reunion from the sidelines. We didn’t have all of the stuff that normally comes with a reunion- the class meetings, planning, decorations, etc. We could all just hang out, and catch up with each other.
The weekend came to a close way too quickly, and before I knew it, I was back on my way to the beach on Sunday morning. 24 hours later, we were back on our way home.
This time, we tried an earlier departure, and it didn’t go so well. The kids were not a fan of the daytime LONG drive.
Looking back, we realized that their breakdowns coincided with their typical meal times, so we have an idea of the cause- but that still doesn’t mean we are interested in trying again any time soon.
If it ain’t broke….