Ten-Year College Reunion

[naomikritzer]

Ed and I went down to my class reunion last weekend. Molly stayed with my parents, as we thought she'd find the reunion pretty boring; Kiera came down with us, as she's still nursing, and doesn't sleep through the night.

We live only an hour away from Carleton, so it was a pretty easy trip.

At my five-year reunion, I remember thinking, "People have hardly changed at all." This time: "Look at all the grown-ups!" Last time, I was pregnant, and there were two other pregnant women plus two or three alumni with little babies. This time, there were little kids everywhere. Plenty of my classmates are still childless, but I was definitely not causing double-takes this time around.

On Saturday night, there was a big band playing at Sayles-Hill (the student center) for those who wanted to swing dance. Kiera loves big band music, so we took her, and she did, in fact, have a blast. They couldn't play "Hello Dolly" (no music for it) but they played "Chatanooga Choo Choo," to Kiera's evident delight.

Speaking of Kiera, she has a new trick. If she's requesting some food and we figure out, after several tries, what she's asking for, she'll jump up and down and clap her hands. It makes it really hard to say "no" even when she's asking for (say) a bag of potato chips which she intends to eat for lunch.

Comments

Carleton reunions

[dtm]

I decided this time that one of the purposes of Carleton reunions is to demonstrate to other Carleton alumni, by example, that yes, it is OK to have children.

I remember that at my 5-year reunion 3 years ago, a woman in my class commented "Is it just me, or do little kids look much cooler now?". When Jennifer and I were there this time for Jennifer's 10-year reunion, we ran into her (her husband works for the college, so they're in Northfield) and they now have a two-year-old.

I also remember during that reunion (which matched up with Ed's 10th, so you three were there) that a bunch of us sat on the hill next to Bell Field and watched/played with Molly; I really expected more of the couples there then to show up with kids this time. I know Jennifer was very reassurred to see how you and Molly interacted - namely, that you had become a mother without ceasing to be Naomi. ("No, I will NOT give na-na to a biting toddler")

Looking at the different Carleton class years that were there this time, the class of '85 seemed to have a large contingent of children in the 6-12 age range during the parade of classes, and Goodhue (where they housed people there for their 10 year) had a fair number of the 5-and-under set running through the dorm lounge.

And Katherine will be told that she learned how to walk independently while at Carleton. When we got there the most she'd done was three independent steps before falling over, and by the time we left she was walking. She's still unsteady and flails her arms quite a bit, but she's definitely walking now.

Re: Carleton reunions

[naomikritzer]

I know Jennifer was very reassurred to see how you and Molly interacted - namely, that you had become a mother without ceasing to be Naomi. Huh. That is very interesting to hear.

And congratulations to Katherine on learning how to walk! Yay! Kiera took her first steps while we were in Ohio last summer for my grandmother's 80th birthday, which was really excellent timing on her part as my grandmother got to see it.