Two Years Gone from W&J

I was a pretty happy camper on May 17, 2011.

Nostalgia is alive and well in my veins this morning. Two years ago today, on May 17, 2011, I graduated from Washington & Jefferson College. Sometimes it feels like only yesterday that my friends and I graduated, and sometimes it feels like half a lifetime has passed. For the past few days, my Twitter and Facebook feeds have been inundated with updates from my fellow young alumni who are heading back to our alma mater this weekend for the College’s 214th Commencement ceremony.

How to Come Home

Homecoming. It’s something that so many of us look forward to, especially when we’ve been away for an extended period of time. But how do we come home to a place that has inevitably changed while we were gone? How do we come home when we’re no longer the person we were when we left?

I came home to Pittsburgh for two weeks this year after having been away for 512 days. And it wasn’t until I threw myself in the arms of my best friend at the airport, relieved sobs wracking my body, that I realized just how much that time, both in terms of the number of actual days and the magnitude of the separation, had affected me. For some people, a year and a half away may be nothing. I thought I was like that. My tears proved me wrong.