Hawkeye Heaven

We made our annual trip to Iowa last weekend, and had lots to do. We celebrated my father's 60th birthday with a family BBQ and a trip to the movie theater (Die Hard for guys, Ratatouille for yours truly). My dad and stepmom threw us a wedding reception for our extended family, and it was just perfect -- a good size so we had time to say hello to everyone. We were so touched.

We also took a little day trip to Iowa City, coincidentally near the tenth anniversary of my graduation. I've been back once since then, maybe five years ago, but we seemed to cover a lot more ground this time. We toured most of the campus and took in lots of new additions to the school. We went through the memorial union, and had to trudge through a crowd just disbanding from a Hillary Clinton rally featuring the lady herself. We also went to one of my old dorms, and were actually able to get into my old room! We walked through the downtown area, and stopped at the new football stadium on the way out of town.

Being back in those neighborhoods again, I can feel my soul thrumming with the confidence and autonomy I had in those years, I really thrived in college more than at any other time of life. Maybe it's the thing I've been most skilled at in my life. Of course, it's easy to forget about all the drama of college, being poor, stressed and tired, dating, breaking up and meeting new people again. But I really do miss it.