She looks lovely pregnant. This is her second baby, a girl who was born in early December. She also has a son who is 10 and who, upon receiving the "congrats on becoming a big brother" card I brought him promptly announced, "I hope there is money in here!" I got the sweetest handmade Thank You card from him a few weeks later. The girls and I followed Squarie and Vicki, another suitemate from school, to Square's house after the shower, visited a bit, then we were off to our main destination.
The other purpose of our trip was to visit my old college friends and classmates. I graduated in a class of about 15 students. I'm not sure how large the entire graduating class of MSOE, our alma mater, was that year but it was generally a small private engineering school. Due to our small class size we were pretty close and we all got along rather well. We had something called poker night which began I think some time around our sophomore or Jr. year, but I defy any of those 15 to recall a poker night wherein we actually PLAYED poker.
When I heard news of this surprise shower I was thinking about attending, I contacted some of the classmates and we all thought it would be great to get together because we have not all been together in quite some time (maybe the last time was for my wedding) and because it would be a 10 year reunion of sorts. Many of them still live in and around Milwaukee. I haven't been back since graduation so I was due and even excited to make the SIX HOUR drive. The drive there wasn't so bad. For one thing, Gabby and Bella were so enchanted with the thought of going on a big trip with Mommy. For another, Mommy was happy to have time alone with just her big girls. For yet another, I really wanted to see my old pals.
The plan was to meet at Raye's house just outside of the city with all of our children. Six of the classmates and their spouses were slated to attend. When we finally arrived I no sooner walked across the threshold when I felt compelled to announce, "How is it that I am the only one who got wrinkles?!?!" It was like walking into a time machine. Everyone looked EXACTLY the same. Well, except for me and my wrinkles, and my overdyed hair. Back in college I hadn't yet discovered peroxide treatment or a hair stylist. The only difference was that everyone had little clones running around. Everyone except Jeff, although there is a rumor that Jeff and a certain StarTrekkie engineering student who's name starts with a W and ends with an 'endy Goerl' have a family of 7 now.
The kiddos had fun together and were quite spent from all of the chasing around and SUGAR --Raye had a large smattering of candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup that would make any elf giddy with glee and then crash like a rock a few hours later. I'd post more photos of the engineerlings but I don't have permission to plaster their kids all over.
All of us (plus some kids who wouldn't get out of the picture)
Liz is currently in the lead with 6 kids. It was the talk of the eve--SIX kids--nobody could believe it. Well, that's not true, I could believe it because when we were in school Liz always told me she'd have 6 kids. She had a plan. She has lots of plans. When Liz makes a plan she sticks to the plan. Therefore, Liz has 6 kids. Another example: Liz told us that she has lists of every activity she would like to accomplish with her brood in each of the 50 states of the union. And she will, because she has a list. And because she is Liz. Needless to say, Liz was an overachiever in school and not much has changed. Except her hair. It's really long--see?
I entitled this photo "Two of the greatest minds of our time". These two are smart buggers. The guy on the left is now a PhD and is a professor at MSOE!!! Though we heckled him about how it was to work at the stodgy old school, I would say we are pretty proud of him. At least I am. This guy is hilarioius too, just like me. And I like him extra because he has joint ownership in my degree. Poor thing, he was my lab partner and senior design partner. I use the term "partner" quite loosely. He did everything. I baked cookies for him. I guess that is something but hardly worth a B.S. in biomedical engineering. They were each clever in their own right. I'm still not sure how I ended up there or how I ever got through it. I am sure that they all in some way had a hand in getting me to graduation day.
The girls and I stayed overnight at Raye's. Her husband and daughter were lovely hosts and we had so much fun talking and reminiscing. The girls had a blast as well and Raye's little one had made up special sleeping bag beds for everyone complete with stuffed animals and books to read at bedtime. Raye is the smartypants patent attorney that I pretend to be. She even does some work for the company I'm at! Small world. We headed out the next morning and made a few tourist stops along the way for cheese (hey, it's Wisconsin) and "prizes" for the girls.
To see how just plain happy everyone was, how unwrinklingly happy, was something which I hadn't realized would make me so happy. I am not sure that I expected much of anything from this little reunion but I am so glad I went. It was so much fun and such a joy to witness the success that everyone has achieved. I'm not talking about the good jobs, great benefits, nice pay ... I'm talking about these:
Yet further proof that engineers ARE good at multiplication.
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