Ohio U Homecoming Weekend (when you can’t go home)
Last weekend was Ohio University Homecoming. From 1987-2014, I was living in Athens, Ohio. I am sure there were games and parades I missed - especially in the years I was having babies and then when our kids were in marching band - but I was always “home” and part of the excitement of being there.
The past few years, I’ve wished we could go, missed it a little, but just accepted that we were too far away and wasn’t too affected by not being there. This year was a different story though. For some reason, I really started wishing we were going back, but not until it was really too late to plan time off from work, budget for the trip, find a place to stay etc. I will say, Greg hinted a few times to do it, when there was still time to plan it, but I’m always thinking ahead to wanting the time and travel money for the holidays and I wasn’t buying in when we could have done something about it.
So instead, we packed a full weekend of shows, volunteering, eating out and taking a short road trip to New Jersey (for groceries of all things).
Friday night we attended the Mannes School of Music symphony concert featuring their concerto winners. I hadn’t intended to go out Friday night but Baron Fenwick was playing the Bernstein Symphony #2 (The Age of Anxiety). I have heard him play on a few occasions now and did not want to miss another opportunity - especially if he was playing Bernstein. We went to Ramen EAK for dinner with Rachel and then the concert. As expected, I would have missed an incredible performance if I had gone home early.
On Saturday, I met up with several other NY-based Bobcats to do some Community Service. We took part in #CaresDay2018 in which we donated our time to a school in Brooklyn that serves many area projects and families who are new to the country. That’s us pictured up above with the two first grade teachers. We painted their room a fresh new color of blue and spruced things up a bit for the children. The similarities of these inner city schools to the schools in which I taught in rural Ohio are incredible. Many of these children come to school dirty, hungry, exhausted and in need of not just an education but basic necessities. The teachers pay huge amounts of money out of their own pockets to provide healthy snacks, clean clothes and the support the parents need as well as the students. Donating a few hours of my time on a Saturday (while others were at kegs and eggs, the parade, the game and hanging out on campus) seemed like the perfect thing for me to do since I didn’t go “Home”. Even though I no longer teach, my heart is always in a classroom and it felt so good to pull together with likeminded Bobcats and other groups from the community to help these incredible teachers out.
I went to brunch with several of our crew and spend many hours eating, drinking, gabbing with them. So many hours, I had to hire a Lyft to bring me home in time to leave again right away after I changed out of my smelly painting clothes. Greg and I had tickets to a performance of Kurt Vonnegut’s play “Happy Birthday, Wanda June”. As with most of Mr. Vonnegut’s works even though this was written some time again, its timeliness to current events, and thought-provoking while humorously delivered dialogue was extremely entertaining.
At this point, it was starting to feel like a real homecoming weekend. I was getting exhausted by so many varied activities. But we weren’t done yet. No way!
We had promised Rachel that we would take her to a big box grocery store. The neighborhood where she lives is amazing, but the shopping choices are limited and expensive. She doesn’t have a car so going on her own is very difficult and expensive. We had heard so many people from the east coast sing the praises of Wegman’s that we found one in New Jersey and decided to go there. Thankfully traffic, by NYC standards, was light and we didn’t get stopped in any major traffic jams. I am not a fan of grocery shopping, not even a little, but I have to say (yep I know Greg reads this so I am swallowing my pride here) it was worth the trip and I would do it again. The prices were definitely lower. The selection was greatly higher. The customer service was extremely good. I think we will probably have to do it again - just not every month! Rachel had ridden the train out to us, but we drove her all the way to her apartment in lower Manhattan and helped unload all her groceries. This gave us another new experience in driving up the FDR (highway on the eastside of Manhattan) and driving across the 59th Street (Queensborough) Bridge. Yep, we were feeling groovy.
So, we didn’t get home this year. But we didn’t sit home and wallow in self-pity either. I am seriously thinking about planning to make the trip next year if everything works out. I would love to hear Greg play with the Alumni Jazz Band again at Casa, see our kids march with the Alumni Band, and just go back to breathe good old Athens Ohio air. It wouldn’t make me sad if we got to see several of our friends in person, instead of just on Facebook, either. Who knows? Maybe we will see you there.