Searching For Me: Detour On Memory Lane

Go Frogs!

After I graduated from college I didn't stray too far from my dear alma matter. I live, in fact, about a fifteen minute drive away from the TCU campus. Now, because that little corner of town is pretty much all dedicated to the campus, I don't really go over there unless I have a specific reason to. This means that from about a year after I graduated (when the last of my close friends from school also graduated) until just a few years ago, I rarely saw the campus. Occasionally I would drive through heading to the nearby bars if my husband or another local band I like had a gig. Some of our best friends got married at the university's chapel. I went to a few homecoming games.

But mostly, I would just drive down University on my way from here to there and only catch one little glimpse of the campus. When my daughter was about eight or nine months old, we enrolled her in TCU's music preparatory program, however, which has resulted in my being on campus quite a bit over the last year. Her music class is held in a building right next to the dorm I lived in for two and a half years, and that dorm was actually remodeled while I was still at school. So walking around that little corner of campus is just like strolling down memory lane. It's more or less just as I remember it, as is the bit that you pass when you drive down University. But since my daughter has started doing her music classes, we have, on a few occasions, needed to walk through that other part of campus. The part that has changed completely since my own school days ended.

Yesterday TCU held their annual Easter egg hunt, and we attended for the first time (Baby Girl was just crawling last year so we decided to sit it out). Strolling around campus with my family (myself, Baby Girl, Hubby, my mom and my stepfather) was a little bit of a surreal experience. So much has changed. In many ways it feels nothing like the place where I went to school, and yet...turn a corner and I'm right back there to ten years ago. I have to admit, as cool as the improvements they have made to the campus are, there is something to be said for walking those same paths I used to walk with my husband and daughter beside me. I have no intention of dictating where my daughter goes to college when she gets to that point in her life, but I will confess, a small part of me hopes she chooses TCU. Her daddy and I are both horned frogs, and the idea of keeping the tradition going with her is quite appealing. Still, that's a long way away, so for now, I'll just enjoy the memories being there brings back, along with the new ones we make each time we visit this strange new campus I don't remember.

The Easter egg hunt was a blast, by the way. I think my mom and stepfather had fun and enjoyed getting to see the campus and share in one of Baby Girl's firsts. Having them here has been wonderful. Here are a few of the highlights for you.