I heard that a lot last weekend while I was in State College, PA – home of my undergrad alma mater Penn State University. I met up with several former college roommates to cheer on the Nittany Lions in their football game against Iowa. The weather was miserable for the game – chilly and raining the whole time – and unfortunately Penn State lost. It’s particularly disheartening to see your team lose after spending 4 hours in the rain. Only a small fraction of 109,000 people in the stands were Iowa fans happy with the result.
Nevertheless, it was nice to catch up with friends I don’t see often, especially since I don’t attend our football weekend every year. We fly or drive in from all over the country. This year I flew from Chicago to Newark where my friend living in Brooklyn picked me up and drove to State College along I-80. I do miss the lush woods and rolling hills in central Pennsylvania. The leaves were just beginning to change colors; they will look great in a couple of weeks. It started to smell like fall, too, reminding me of cross-country running season. I ran cross-country and track at Penn State and we pounded out a lot of miles on the roads and trails in Happy Valley. It’s great to go back to see how some things have changed while others have stayed the same. (The Skellar never changes.)
Bringing home a couple boxes of stickies from the Diner made my wife and kids smile. (If you’ve had them, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t had them, you’re missing out.) Too bad we ate them all already. That’s motivation to start planning the next trip.
