Reunion Weekend

I've been mulling over how I wanted to set up this post about the reunion. I didn't want it to be a "and then we did this, and then we did this" kind of post, but I didn't know how else to do it. I wanted all my old roommates and friends who couldn't make it to the reunion to have a taste of what it was like and who was there. I said to Chris at one point that I felt like I was a reporter, trying to soak in everything so that I could give the full story.

But alas, the experience was my own and I came away with a lot of great, new memories. I mostly came away with an appreciation of my college years and the people I found during those years. Although a lot of them couldn't make it, the memories of these people flooded my mind during the entire weekend. Being at Wolski's after the party on Friday night? I thought of Justin and Ellen and the dart incident. Being on the riverfront deck at the Harp on Friday before the party? I thought of Sara's wedding and the beautiful day we had. And seeing the MRC across the street? Visions of Karen and her family playing darts at our graduation party danced in my head. Being on the East side? I remembered trips out that way when Shelly had a car for a few weeks and needed to get away from campus for ice cream. It was one memory after another, and I thoroughly enjoyed this trip back in time.

One of the weird things about this weekend was that I kept thinking that I was back at Marquette. As in, I would see these people the next week in class, or out on the weekends. I did have to remind myself a couple times to get up and talk to these people because I may not see them for another 10 years, if that. Strange.

I will give you some of the highlights in pictures. The rest of the stories I will spare my non-Marquette readers. For those Marquette-related people, I'm sure I'll be talking to you soon and can fill you in on the details.

Friday night, there was a party for our class at a restaurant/bar on the river near the East side. Before we went there, Stein, Chris, and Colleen, and I enjoyed some drinks at the Harp on the river. Milwaukee has definitely embraced the riverfront, and there are a ton of new restaurants and bars there. It was a gorgeous weekend for being outside, so it was a perfect place to be.

After a few drinks, we went on to the party at Bayou, the restaurant/bar on the East side. There we saw Chris' old roommate Bess and her husband Vince. I also ran into the group of guys who we hung out with our junior and senior years of college. The funniest thing for me was hearing the stories about all of their kids. They each have three, with 2 of the wives expecting a fourth. I asked them if it was a conspiracy or something with the three number. One of them had a nine-day-old at home! They made it a boy's weekend and didn't bring their wives.

The talk around the party as it neared the end was to go to Wolski''s. Wolski's is famous for it's 'celebration' when it closes for the night. They flash the lights on and off, and the staff runs around the place handing out "I Closed Wolski's" bumper stickers. It's in the middle of a neighborhood and used to be a house. So you're walking along this neighborhood, and then all of the sudden, there's a bar. Here are some shots from inside. That's our friend Dawn's husband with Colleen, Chris and Stein:

The next day there was a picnic on campus for all the classes. They also had a children's area, so a lot of people brought their kids. There had a typical Milwaukee spread: beer and brats. You can't go wrong with that! Here I am with my friends Beth and Lisa:

And this picture (above) cracks me up. I am still holding a grudge that Marquette changed its nickname during the flurry of colleges doing the same. I can't stand the Golden Eagle nickname, won't buy anything that says it on it, and didn't want my picture with the mascot. Stein thought I did. And do you like the big name badge we wore? It was annoying, but did come in handy occasionally when you had to glance quickly at someone's when they first knew your name.

On our way back to the hotel that afternoon, I had to get a tourist picture in front of the academic building where I spent most of my years. Johnston Hall:

That night, they had a really nice dinner on the union lawn for all the classes. There were clusters of tables set up according to classes. They had a huge buffet of food and desserts. Oh yeah, and who had the wise idea of having $1 Miller Lite bottles? With a bunch of Marquette Alums? That was messy. Here I am with Chris and our friend Kelly:

Chris and Stein enjoying the food (and Miller Lites):

Some of the yummy desserts:

Sarah and Carlos:

My friend Jill and me:

This picture below cracked me up. When it got dark, they had lights shining on the union and some of the surrounding buildings. Chris and I joked that it was a command: "Reconnect!" We also joked that they were subliminally shining "Donate!"

After the dinner, we ventured over to some of the campus establishments. The ones we frequented while there are no longer standing, so we gave it the old college try and walked into one of the new ones. Old being the operative word as all of the college kids turned around as we entered the bar, and we couldn't hear each other over the loud (kids these days) music. Our group of nine quickly turned around and exited the place. We were lucky to find one of the bars had an outdoor area which was a lot quieter than the inside of the bar. Here we are enjoying (what else?) Miller Lites.All in all, a great time. We were exhausted on Sunday and yesterday. I guess we're not 21 anymore. But we sure gave it the college try.