Perhaps this is why our school's tradition of Homecoming is so dear to us because it touches on our most basic desire to interact, remember and engage.
Alumni travel thousands of miles, take trains and buses and cars, perhaps even cross oceans to return to campus for one weekend. Maybe part of that is a desire to return to their "glory days" that golden age of carefree revelry that was their time here. But more than that is a desire to reunite with people who come from similar formative experiences, to see the green light of Baker Tower and be reminded that they were and still are a part of something great and bigger than themselves.
Freshmen, as they don their class year jersey, paint their faces and run around the bonfire, are in but the beginning stages of discovering their own special place here. How will they connect with the institution and with their classmates and use that connection to blossom and grow as people?
The most important thing we can do this weekend is to revel in the present. Look at the wistful expressions of people around you, the packed stands at Memorial Field, listen to the crackles of the bonfire as flames consume its 117 tiers, eat breakfast at Lou's on Sunday morning, wind down and reminisce. Connect with the moment: it's a once in a lifetime event.
